Numazu Fire
by thisissparta789789
Summary: Even a small village like Uchiura in the City of Numazu faces challenges such as fires, accidents, and the occasional old lady that falls down the stairs. When those challenges arise, it is the volunteer firefighter that helps answer the call. (Post-Show)
1. Pilot

_**May 1, 2019**_

"Alright," replied Kanan as she and You walked around Numazu City Fire Station 151, Uchiura's main fire station and the only one out of 6 in what was known in the department as District 15 staffed with paid firefighters. "I'm glad you came here full-time finally. Your locker will be right next to mine, right over here." In You's hand was a red bag that contained her turnout gear. Prior to graduating high school and moving with Chika into an apartment in the village, she had split her time as a student auxiliary firefighter between Station 151 in Uchiura and Station 24 in downtown Numazu. Since her graduation, she had become a full-fledged volunteer firefighter, and was now able to go inside burning buildings.

As You took first her bunker pants out and then her coat, she said to Kanan, "I'm glad, too. I'll finally get to fight fires where I spent most of my childhood." As she placed it in her locker, she yawned, as it was late at night.

"Hey," said another firefighter named Toshiki Ohori, also a volunteer. He had been in the fire department for 3 years, and had also joined as an student auxiliary firefighter while i his third year of high school. He had light brown hair and was about 20 years old. "I see You-kun moved into here full-time, eh?"

"Yep," You replied. "Yesterday, I said goodbye to the guys at Station 24, but not before we got a working apartment fire I was able to go inside for." She then remembered something. "Oh, damn it, that reminds me. I gotta wash my jacket. I only washed my pants and hood after the fire."

Kanan and Toshiki laughed. Kanan told her, "I'll grab you a spare coat from the storage room. Tear your name tag off of the Velcro and leave it in your locker." As Kanan went to grab a spare coat, You began to take her's apart, which had two thick layers designed to protect her from both heat and water and a drag rescue system built into it that had to be manually pulled out.

Toshiki then asked her, "So, was that the first fire you could go in for?"

"Aside from training, yeah," You replied. "I did pack up for two car fires, though. One was here and one was in downtown Numazu. It was fun as hell, I'll tell you."

Kanan then came back with a coat. "Alright, just put your stuff in this coat, and you'll be all set."

As You placed her gloves, her metal name tag, her back name tag, and her mask both on and in her spare coat, they all heard their pagers all go off. You said, "Medical or fire?"

The dispatcher read out over the pager, "Numazu City Fire Dispatch for all Station 154 firefighters and Station 151 for an ambulance, respond to an unconscious 57-year-old male at [ADDRESS REMOVED]. Caller reports that he is breathing, and this call will be coded as a Delta response. Your time of dispatch is 21:52 hours. Dispatcher 166."

A paid firefighter, one of two assigned to Station 151, slid down a fire pole, followed by the next paid firefighter, a Lieutenant. The Lieutenant said to Kanan, "Matsuura-san, you're going on Ambulance 151A with me. Ohori-san, you're driving."

Kanan replied, "Got it!" She then grabbed her bunker gear, but did not put it on. Instead, she threw it in the back of the ambulance, ran back to her locker, and grabbed a set of medical turnout gear to put it on. This gear was thinner than the bunker gear, and was composed of blue overalls, a white helmet, a medical mask, and a small case of rubber medical gloves. After she and Toshiki put their medical turnout gear on, they hopped aboard the ambulance, with Kanan sitting in the back, the Lieutenant up front, and Toshiki driving. If they got a fire call while on the way back to the station, they would simply put their bunker gear on over their medical gear overalls and leave their white helmet and medical mask on the ambulance.

* * *

Later that night, Chika and You slept in their bedroom. Both had separate beds, but shared a dresser and a computer desk with two computers. You placed her pager and its charging base on the computer desk, always plugged in. During the day, her pager was usually on "C" mode, which allowed her to listen to both the paging frequency as well as District 15's operations frequency. At night, she switched it to "A" mode, which was a selective call mode that would only turn on the pager if the tones of Station 151 were sent out over the paging frequency. You also hooked up a radio scanner to her computer, which was always on, and left the radio on mute. The scanner tracked all of the NFD's frequencies and streamed them over the internet on a single feed on a site called Broadcastify. She had begun her feed shortly after she moved to Chika's apartment, after doing some research, and it was one of the only Japanese scanner feeds on the site. It had been running since yesterday, and averaged a few listeners at any time.

Then, as You and Chika was sound asleep, having spent most of the day at college, You's pager rang. Chika woke up and saw You jump quickly out of bed and slip on a pair of shoes by her bed. She yawned and told her, "Be careful, You-chan..."

"See you later," You replied quickly as she ran out of the bedroom in her pajamas, which were a green t-shirt and shorts, and white sneakers, carrying her phone, her pager, and her keys to get into the firehouse. She was still in the process of becoming a driver, so she would run about 3 minutes to the station to fire calls.

3 and a half minutes later, You ran into the firehouse in the middle of the dark night just as Kanan drove into the parking lot. She quickly ran to her gear locker and began to put on her bunker gear. The call was for a fire alarm activation at a restaurant called in by an alarm company. As she got her coat on, the first engine left with a full crew of 5, consisting of both of the paid firefighters, two volunteers who were already at the station, and a volunteer who came from his house across the street.

Once she got her gear on, she grabbed her mask and helmet and ran over to the aerial ladder, known as Aerial 151. It, too, had 5 seats, and was equipped with a pump, some hose, and a ladder reaching 25 meters, or around 82 feet, with a small bucket at the end. Then, she jumped into the cab, took an air pack out, and stepped back out to put it on as Kanan and several other volunteers did the same thing. She and Kanan got on first, hopping in the back.

At the 5 and a half minute mark, Aerial 151 left with a full crew, consisting of 3 interior-certified volunteers, an older volunteer who drove, and an auxiliary volunteer. As it pulled out, You said to Kanan, "I was planning on a good night's sleep before this."

"Same here," Kanan replied. "I was dreaming of a song I listened to earlier when the pager woke me up."

Around the 7 and a half minute mark, Aerial 151 arrived. You and Kanan jumped out of the truck and immediately went over to a compartment on the driver's side to grab an axe held by You and a halligan bar held by Kanan. The firefighter in the front seat said to them, "Just stand by out here. They shouldn't be too much longer in there."

"Got it," You replied back before she yawned. She then turned to Kanan. "Woken up for another bullshit call, eh?"

* * *

 _ **May 3, 2019**_

As firefighters cleaned up at a small house fire that had been quickly knocked down by first-arriving crews, You and Kanan chatted with each other next to Engine 151. This time, they had managed to make the first unit, and they had put the fire out with a hose line they pulled as soon as they pulled up. It had been an hour into the fire. "So," You said to Kanan. "I heard you and Dia are doing pretty well in college."

"Yup," Kanan replied before she drank some water and wiped sweat off of her forehead. "Dia got on the President's list. I got on the Dean's list right below her. I mean, I definitely expected to see Dia on either list, but I was **not** expecting my name on a list." She then laughed. "I almost fucking bombed chemistry in my first semester, and here I am now, making the damn Dean's list."

"I really hope I don't do so bad in my classes," You replied. She had just started college, and was looking for advice. "Say, got any tips, sophomore?"

"Take as many notes as you can," Kanan replied before she shrugged. "That's really all the advice I can give, I guess. My note taking has improved leaps and bounds since I started."

Then, a volunteer captain called over to them from near another fire engine, "Watanabe! Matsuura! Come over here and help us with packing this hose!" He then yawned as he turned back around to the hose.

"Yes, Captain," Kanan replied back as she and You set their waters down and put their fire gloves back on.

* * *

 ** _May 4, 2019_**

A pig-tailed redhead looked at a poster at her high school. The poster featured several firefighters on the cover and said, "Are you a third-year or about to become a third-year in High School? Do you want to give back to your community? Are you interested in a career in firefighting or emergency medical services? Then the High School Firefighting and EMS Program is for you! Go to your local fire station today, or visit www.numazucityfd.co.jp/recruitment/volunteer/highschool for more information!"

She pondered to herself for several seconds. Then, a friend of her's with long chestnut hair said, "Ruby-chan, are you coming to class?"

"Oh," Ruby replied. "Sorry about that, Hanamaru-chan. I was looking at that poster and my mind wandered off." She then laughed. "Yeah, let's get to class."

Hanamaru then asked her as they walked, "What's the poster about?"

"Remember how You-chan became a firefighter when she was a third-year?" Ruby the paused and sighed. "I am thinking about doing it, too."

Hanamaru, surprised, asked her friend. "Ruby-chan are you sure? Firefighting sounds dangerous, and to do it for free sounds odd."

"I'll be fine," Ruby replied. "If I do sign up, I'll have You and Kanan beside me, and they won't let anything happen to me. Don't worry." They both then laughed. "I mean, I'm sure they don't want to be on the receiving end of my sister's wrath if something does happen to me." The two then laughed even harder.

"I know I wouldn't want to be in the receiving end of Dia-chan's wrath," Hanamaru replied. "I'm sure you'd do the same for her, right?"

"Of course," Ruby replied immediately. "I would drop everything for her. If anyone did hurt Dia, there would be hell to pay from me." Ruby normally was not aggressive, but when it came to her older sister, she spoke her mind about how far she would go to protect her, much like how Dia would do the same for her. "There's no doubt about it at all."

* * *

Meanwhile, as Kanan cleaned the SCUBA gear at her family's work, she saw an unexpected visitor. "Oh, hey, Toshiki-kun."

Toshiki replied back, "Hey. So, how's work so far?"

"Deader than a damn doornail," Kanan replied. "We're halfway through the workday, and we've had only 3 customers. I'm not kidding." She then sighed. "If we got something serious, I'd take one of the boats to the mainland and run to the station from the marina. I'm kinda hoping we do, actually. I know that sounds fucked up because that means somebody's house is burning down or they got into a really bad accident, but it would be better for me than sitting around here doing nothing."

Toshiki then laughed. "If we get something bad, I'm blaming your ass for it, considering you just jinxed us." They both laughed at the joke. "Say, after you're done with work, do you wanna hang out or something?"

Kanan thought to herself to see if she was available. "Eh... I don't know. I'll text you if I am after work. It depends on whether or not my friend Mari needs help with her father's car. It's got an engine problem, and we've been fixing it in-house. So far, it's going pretty good. If it isn't fixed soon, the car's basically gonna be a piece of metal scrap."

"That sucks," Toshiki replied. "That really does suck."

* * *

The Numazu City Fire Department protects the city of Numazu, which has a population of around 195,000. To provide fire protection, rescue, and emergency medical services, the city utilizes a combination of paid and volunteer firefighters.

The modern fire department started in what was then the Town of Numazu in 1888, following a fire that killed a family of 6. It started with just two stations located on what were then the opposite ends of the town with 40 volunteers and a paid fire chief. In 1893, following the decision by Emperor Meiji to build a villa in Numazu, a third fire station was added. By now, the town had 52 volunteers led by a paid fire chief and a paid assistant fire chief hired that same year, in addition to 2 station keepers who were assigned to Fire Station 1 due to the fact that it had horse-drawn fire engines. In 1902, a fourth fire station was added, and the department now had 70 volunteers. In 1913, a devastating fire in the town left many buildings destroyed. **The fire department would experience its first line of duty death during this fire, when 8-year-veteran Volunteer Firefighter Yasuhito Kagura was killed by falling debris. Several days later, during overhaul operations, paid Fire Chief Kaoru Kobayashi, a former volunteer and charter member of the department before he was hired as the assistant chief in 1904 and then being promoted to fire chief in 1910, collapsed of a heart attack due to overwork and exhaustion, becoming the second line of duty death.** Following this fire, motorized fire engines were purchased, and horse-drawn equipment was also assigned to Fire Station 2, leading to the hiring of 2 more station keepers.

In 1923, the Village of Yanagihara and its single station volunteer fire department merged with Numazu, adding a fifth station and 22 more volunteers, leaving the department with a total of 104. A paid deputy fire chief was also hired, as well as two paid fire inspectors, bringing the number of paid staff up to 9. In that same year, the Town of Numazu became the City of Numazu. In 1926, another devastating fire destroyed most of downtown Numazu. **During this fire, Volunteer Firefighters Kyousuke Miki (3 years) and Takao Miki (5 years, Kyousuke's older brother), as well as Lieutenant Junsuke Koizumi (16 years, volunteer) were killed, with Kyousuke burning to death and Takao and Junsuke being killed by falling debris, with both incidents being an hour apart. They would be the third, fourth, and fifth line of duty deaths in the department's history.** In 1928, the last horses were retired by the fire department. By now, all 5 fire stations had at least one motorized fire engine. In 1930, a sixth fire station was added, a third paid fire inspector, and two more station keepers were hired. By now, the city had 10 paid firefighters and 130 volunteer firefighters. In 1934, the city's paid station keepers switched to a two-shift system similar to American fire departments, leading to the hiring of 6 more station keepers, who now had their titles changed to permanent firefighters. **In 1935, Permanent Firefighter Ryou Yanagida (4 years as volunteer, 1 year as permanent) fell off of the back step of a fire engine while responding to a reported car fire and died of blunt force trauma to the head upon hitting the ground, becoming the sixth line of duty death in the department's history.**

In 1936, the city's fire department began providing emergency ambulance services, placing two ambulances in service at Stations 1 and 3. In that same year, two more fire stations were built, and Station 4 received paid staff, bringing the total number of paid firefighters up to 20 and the number of volunteers up to 170. In 1937, Japan went to war with China in the prelude to the Second World War, and Numazu began to experience a build-up in industry and military facilities. In 1938, two more fire stations were built, and a third and fourth ambulance were placed into service at Stations 3 and 4. In the same year, a third permanent firefighter was assigned to each of the 4 staffed stations, bringing the total number of paid staff up to 26 and the total number of volunteers up to 204 operating out of 10 fire stations. in 1944, the city grew dramatically when the Villages of Katahama, Kanaoka, Ooka and Shizuura were merged with it. This added a further 4 fire stations to the department, and the city added paid staff and ambulances to two of them as well as two more fire inspectors. The city also bumped the number of paid staff at each of the 6 staffed stations to 4 per shift, with one being either a Lieutenant or a Captain. The city now had 40 paid firefighters and 322 volunteer firefighters operating out of 14 fire stations.

On July 17, 1945, Numazu was heavily bombed by American forces at the tail end of the Second World War. **Volunteer Firefighters Shinji Fukawa (10 years), Shinji Ayase (2 years), Gen Mutou (5 years), Sakura Himura (1 year, female auxiliary), Heita Ishikawa (22 years), and Shigeyoshi Fukawa (36 years, father of Shinji Fukawa), as well as Volunteer Lieutenant Masanori Nakanishi (10 years), Volunteer Lieutenant Youichi Watanabe (16 years), Volunteer Captain Kamon Matsuura (20 years), Permanent Firefighter Shuichi Morita (7 years volunteer, 2 years paid), Permanent Firefighter Satoshi Ayase (12 years volunteer, 4 years paid, father of Shinji Ayase), Permanent Firefighter Heita Iizumi (2 years volunteer, 7 years paid), and Permanent Captain Tadashi Kurosawa (8 years volunteer, 7 years paid) were killed at various points during the bombing campaign against Numazu, becoming the seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth, seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth line of duty deaths in the department's history.**

After the Second World War, the city began to rebuild. The department split the city up into 6 service districts in 1947 as part of an expansion and restructuring that had been recommended by American occupational authorities, who found that the city's fire protection was inadequate, renumbering the city's fire stations, building more of them, hiring more paid firefighters, buying new equipment, and replacing the bells that formerly summoned volunteers to their stations with mechanical sirens that were surplus wartime air raid sirens from Tokyo. By 1950, the city had 25 fire stations, 10 staffed with paid firefighters, operating 35 pumpers, 5 aerial ladder trucks, 10 ambulances, 10 water tenders, 15 brush fire engines, 50 auxiliary fire pumps, and 2 rescue units with 80 paid firefighters, 4 fire chiefs, 12 district fire chiefs, and 14 fire inspectors on the paid side of the department for a total of 110 paid staff, and 524 volunteer firefighters on the volunteer side of the department. Bells were installed in the homes of volunteer firefighters that would ring when they were needed to respond from home. Many of the new paid and volunteer firefighters were returning veterans of the Second World War who were looking for either a good paying job and/or a place to belong to that had a paramilitary structure they were familiar with. **In 1954, Volunteer Firefighter Kiyotaka Kazuno (6 years) collapsed of a heart attack at a factory fire after being overcome with smoke and died in a hospital 4 hours later, becoming the twentieth line of duty death in the department's history, and the first since the end of the Second World War.**

In 1955, the city would see its largest expansion yet when the rather large Villages of Ashitaka, Oohira, Uchiura, and Nishiura merged with the city. This merger increased the number of fire stations in the city to 35, and the city decided to construct an additional 10 to provide better protection to the newly-annexed areas. The city also increased the number of fire service districts to 15. In 1958, the city switched to 24-on-48-off for permanent firefighters, adding a third shift. By 1960, there were now 50 fire stations, with 20 staffed at varying levels by paid firefighters, operated by 235 paid firefighters and 1,024 volunteer firefighters. In 1968, the Town of Hara was annexed by the city, adding five more fire stations and increasing the number of paid firefighters to 250 and the number of volunteer firefighters to 1,102. **In 1969, Permanent Firefighter Byakuya Mazaki (3 years volunteer, 10 years paid) was struck and killed by a drunk driver while operating at a car accident, becoming the twenty-first line of duty death in the department's history. The same accident also crippled Volunteer Firefighter Yasushi Hirano (9 years), leading to his early retirement.**

In 1971, the city placed Motorola Pageboy pagers into service and removed the bells from homes. We also began dispatching calls by radio around this time. On June 8, 1972, the department experienced a whopping 15 fires in a single day across the city at different times. Amazingly, thanks to the efforts of the city's firefighters, not a single life was lost, though several firefighters and civilians were injured. As all had been set suspiciously, it was determined that they had been set by an arsonist. Said arsonist was arrested on June 26, 1972, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison on December 8, 1972 for the fires. Around this time, the city began to place self-contained breathing apparatus in regular service, after 12 years of use on a special basis for rescues only. In 1977, the city would experience one of its darkest days since the Second World War when 15 patrons at a nightclub were killed in a devastating fire. Following this fire, the department's fire inspectors cracked down hard on fire and building code violations in places of public assembly in the city, shutting down 12 establishments for gross and egregious violations, and fining 28 others. In 1980, to better service the city, 5 new fire service districts were created. By now, the city had 60 fire stations, staffed with 300 paid firefighters and 1,272 volunteer firefighters. In that same year, use of self-contained breathing apparatus became mandatory inside burning buildings.

 **In 1982, Volunteer Captain Makoto Magatsuchi (23 years) was killed by falling debris while at a house fire, becoming the twenty-second line of duty death in the department's history. He would be followed by Permanent District Chief Mamoru Takeda (35 years), who collapsed of a heart attack at a store fire later that year, becoming the twenty-third line of duty death in the department's history.** In 1985, the city built a memorial to the department's line of duty deaths, listing their names below a marble statue of a firefighter. **Just two weeks later, Volunteer Firefighter Hideo Kozuki (6 years) and Permanent Firefighter Hideo Kanagawa (7 years) became the first names to be added to the memorial after it was built when both were killed in a flashover at a house fire, becoming the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth line of duty deaths in the department's history.** In 1987, the department began to improve its delivery of ambulance services by training both paid and volunteer firefighters in more advanced levels of medical care. In that same year, the Motorola Pageboy pagers were discarded and replaced with Motorola Minitor II pagers.

In 1990, the same year the department hired its first 5 female paid firefighters, the department had 80 fire stations, 325 paid firefighters, and 2,024 volunteer firefighters, operating 105 pumpers, 25 aerial ladder trucks, 15 rescue units, 35 water tenders, 35 brush fire engines, 30 ambulances, 20 districts, 2 dive rescue units, 8 boats, a haz-mat unit, and an urban search and rescue unit. In the 90s, a decline began to occur in the number of volunteer firefighters due to a variety of reasons, leading to the department beginning to recruit both women and third-years in high school into the volunteer ranks. In 1995, all 30 of the department's ambulances became paramedic-certified after 8 years of experimentation, leading to a massive increase in the survivability of cardiac arrest patients from just 10% in 1994 to 25% in 1996. In 2000, Numazu became a special city by the Japanese government. In 2005, the Village of Heda became the next municipality to merge with Numazu. Its all-volunteer fire department of 46 was easily integrated into the city department, and 9 more stations were built across the city, increasing the number of fire stations to the level of 90 operated by 350 paid firefighters and 1,832 volunteer firefighters. **In 2006, former Heda Fire Chief and then Numazu Volunteer Captain Shinichi Yasuhiro (40 years) became the twenty-sixth line of duty death in the department's history when he collapsed of a heart attack at a false alarm. He was a major help in the transition process and a highly-trained and experienced firefighter, and will be deeply missed.** In 2007, the decision was made to add the names of the 26 line of duty deaths (1 Yanagihara, 1 Katahame, 1 Kanaoka, 1 Ooka, 2 Shizuura, 4 Ashitaka, 4 Oohira, 6 Uchiura, 3 Nishiura, 1 Hara, and 1 Heda) that occurred in former fire departments annexed by Numazu prior to their mergers to the memorial, increasing the present number of names to _**52.**_ In 2010, the Minitor IIs were placed by the Minitor Vs, which remain in use today. In the same year, over a 5 year period, 20 new stations were built, mostly single-engine volunteer-only stations, to improve the city's fire insurance ratings.

Today, the Numazu City Fire Department operates with 450 paid firefighters and 1,804 volunteer firefighters out of 110 fire stations, operating 150 pumpers, 40 aerial ladder trucks, 20 rescue units, 40 water tenders, 40 brush fire engines, 10 foam tenders, 40 personnel vans, 50 ambulances, 20 districts, 2 dive rescue units, 12 boats, a haz-mat unit, and a USAR unit. We respond to an average of 20,000 fire calls (structure fires, fire alarm activations, car accidents, car fires, brush fires, natural gas leaks, carbon monoxide calls, haz-mat mitigation calls, special rescue calls, etc) per year in addition to 50,000 calls for emergency medical services per year, for a total of 70,000. We also provide assistance to our neighboring villages, towns, and cities, both automatically and on request, and in exchange, they provide assistance to some of our calls, both automatically an on request. For example, during the daytime, we will often dispatch firefighters to assist the Towns of Nagaizumi, Shimizu, and Kannami, all of whom either have all-volunteer or mostly-volunteer fire departments, for any structure fires or fire alarms since many of their volunteers are away at work and are unable to respond, and in exchange, they will dispatch their firefighters to some of our calls along the border for the same reason.

We are proud of what we are and how we have grown, and we will continue to strive for an even greater future.


	2. Hoarder

_**May 7, 2019**_

Ambulance 151B pulled up to a seemingly normal-looking house in the central part of Uchiura. On board was a paid firefighter-paramedic, You, and another volunteer. The first ambulance was out on another call with Station 154 at the time, a single-pumper all-volunteer station located to the north. The call was for a 68-year-old male who had fallen out on the front porch of the house.

You and the other volunteer jumped out of the back, pulling the stretcher out as the paid firefighter got out of the driver's seat. They all immediately saw that the patient was on the ground and was moaning, presumably from pain. The man reached out to the ambulance and said, "I think I hurt my leg real bad."

You asked him, "Sir, what leg was it?" As she did, her and the other volunteer brought the stretcher over as the paid firefighter carried a medical bag with him.

"My right one," the old man said as he pointed to his right leg. He then seemed to recognize You. "Oh hey! You're Watanabe You, right?"

You, surprised, replied to him, "Yes, I am. The one and only." She then laughed.

"It's pretty cool you went from being an idol to a fireman. You and the rest of Aqours were pretty good, by the way." The old man then winced in pain again. "Ow."

"Yeah," You replied, surprised the patient was bringing up Aqours at that time. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," the old man said. As he did, the paid firefighter began to apply a brace to the man's right leg.

"Yep," the paid firefighter said. "It looks broken. Let's package him up and bring him to the hospital."

"Alright," said the other volunteer, a man in his late 30s named Hoshi Sando. "We're gonna slide the backboard under you and then lift you onto the stretcher, okay?" He and You then slid an orange backboard underneath the old man. "Okay, You-kun, are you ready? One, two, three." They both then lifted him onto the stretcher. Once they did, they slid the backboard out from under him.

"Ah, motherfucker," said the old man in severe pain. "My right leg really fucking hurts now. I don't think it's anything you guys did, but... Damn it..."

The paid firefighter then asked the patient, "Okay, on a scale of 1 to 10, how bad is the leg pain?"

"About 7 or 8," the old man replied. As he did, You began to notice that he smelled awful. She then looked over at the open front door of the house and saw that there appeared to be trash in the hallway.

You then asked the old man, "Say, did you notice the trash in your hallway?"

"That ain't fucking trash," the old man suddenly replied as he tried to swipe at You. "Don't call it fucking trash again! Those are my belongings!"

"Hey, hey, hey," Hoshi replied as he stepped in between the stretcher and You. "Don't try to hit my coworkers, alright? Second, I noticed all of that, too. What's going on in your house?"

"Nothing is going on in my damn house," the old man aggressively replied. "And tell that damn bitch of your's to stop insulting my house!"

The paid firefighter told the old man, "Sir, stop it, or we're calling the police for harassment."

Then, the old man managed to slap the paid firefighter across the face. "Shut the fuck up. Like hell you'll call the fucking police, retard."

"You-kun," the paid firefighter said to her. "Get on the radio and get a cop car down here now. Also, get a health inspector here, too."

The old man then waved his fist at You as he sat up in the stretcher and told her, "You started this, bitch!"

You ignored him as she went into the back of the ambulance, grabbed a radio, tuned it to the dispatch channel, and radioed out, "Ambulance 151B to Fire Alarm."

"Ambulance 151B."

"Get me a 10-48 for a combative patient. There also appears to be unsanitary living conditions inside this location. Can you contact the Health Department and have them send an inspector here?"

"10-4."

You then walked back over and said, "I'll go in and look at the house."

The old man then spit in the direction of You. Though it missed, Hoshi and the paid firefighter still tackled him and began to strap him down to the stretcher, causing him to scream out in pain. "You fucking pieces of shit! Don't fucking restrain me! Don't fucking go into my house, you traitor whore!"

You ignored him as she began to enter his house. As soon as she stepped foot inside, the stench became pungent and strong. She could see that the entire front hallway was littered with trash and debris everywhere. "What the actual hell?" As she walked in further, not even the surgical mask she wore could hide the scent. When she got to the living room, she saw that, aside from a small and narrow hallway within the trash that led to a TV, a couch, and the kitchen, the entire living room was filled with both trash and mold from the floor to the ceiling. You immediately backed out into the front hallway as she gagged. "Jesus fucking Christ, that's disgusting!"

Then, she saw the worst thing of all as she began to go up the stairs. The stairs themselves were somehow free of trash and debris. However, at the top of the stairs was some trash as well as a shelf containing jars. When she looked closer, she saw that the jars were full of a yellow liquid. Immediately, her jaw dropped.

"This guy is storing his damn piss in jars," You said to herself in disbelief. "Just another day in Uchiura, huh?" She then turned and saw a room that had its door open. She walked in and flipped on the light. Immediately, her eyes went wide in horror as she said, "What the fuuuu...?"

The room was lined with posters of both µ's and Aqours. Some were torn, while others were in relatively good shape. What disturbed You the most, however, was one corner of the room that contained nothing but posters of photo shoots of her. On the floor in said corner was a box of tissues and a pile of dirty ones.

You immediately recognized what the old man was doing in that corner. "Oh... Oh my God..." She immediately ran out of the room and back down the stairs. Once she ran out of the house, she collapsed to her knees, ripped her surgical mask off, and began to violently retch. After several seconds, she finally began to throw up. After the first few chunks, she stared up at the sky, took a deep breath in, and continued.

Hoshi immediately ran to her as several police cars arrived on scene. "You-kun, are you okay?"

"I...," You began to say before she threw up again. "Oh my God... That pervert had a shrine to idols in a room upstairs..." She then threw up again. "He had a whole corner for just me where he jacked off in to posters of me." She tried covering her mouth to stop herself from throwing up again, but it was no use. "His house is so fucking disgusting. He has jars of his own piss upstairs, too. That creep is fucking sick in the head."

Hoshi then turned to the paid firefighter and told him, "Call Fire Alarm and tell them to get a second ambulance and re-tone our station for a pumper to the scene. We got a bad hoarder house here."

* * *

About 8 minutes later, Pumper 151 pulled up with 5 firefighters, including Kanan. She decided to put her pack on and carry her mask with her just in case. She ran over to You, who hadn't thrown up in 5 minutes and was now cleaning her face. "You-chan, are you okay?!" She was clearly worried for her, having heard that You was violently ill while on the pumper riding to the call.

"Yeah," You replied. "I haven't puked my guts out in about 5 minutes, so I should be better now." She then pointed to the house. "You need to fucking see it to believe it. And by the way, please, mask up when you go in there."

"Sure," Kanan replied as she took her helmet off to put her mask on. Once she did, she went on air and put her helmet back on to join the other two interior firefighters that had rode in on the pumper. Neither of them had even grabbed packs, not expecting the smell to be that bad.

As soon as they walked in, one volunteer yelled out, "The smell's awful in here!"

Kanan said to him, "Yeah. That's why I'm masked up. I'll take You-chan's word for it. I'll go upstairs while you two do the downstairs."

"Sounds like a plan," the other firefighter replied.

As Kanan made her way up the stairs, she saw the jars of urine on the shelf. "Well," she said to herself. "Of course that's a thing in this damn house." She then made her way to the same room where You found the idol shrine. Kanan laughed as soon as she went in, saying, "Good fucking lord!" She then noticed the You corner with the tissues. "Oh... Oh my God... That's just nasty. The worst part about it is is that I took most of those photos in the posters." She then heard both of the other firefighters that were with her run back outside after they were overcome by the bad smell in the hoarder house. "I told them to mask up, but they didn't listen."

* * *

Two hours later, back at the firehouse, You, Kanan, Toshiki, and Hoshi all talked to each other. You had thoroughly brushed her teeth and rinsed her mouth as soon as she got back to the firehouse. Now, she was eating some food the paid captain at the firehouse had bought for her out of his own pocket, having felt sorry for her. "This hits the spot," she said after swallowing some food. "Then again, I'm sure anything would after I practically emptied my entire stomach." You also threw her entire set of medical gear into the washer.

"It was really nice of Captain Kozuki to buy that for you," Hoshi said to the gray-haired girl. "We've had some paid guys who are assholes to volunteers, but Captain Kozuki has never been. In fact, he started as a volunteer at Station 152 to the south of here. We're spoiled to have him here."

"You got that right," Toshiki replied. "Also, I'd highly recommend showering as soon as you get home. That goes for all of you."

"No shit," Kanan replied to him. "I'm gonna do just that as soon as I get home. You know, I heard they're gonna take the old man to a mental hospital or something."

"They oughta," You replied. "My dad always told me that hoarder houses were dangerous for firefighters. He once sat me down and told me after a fire I had at one soon after I joined in Station 24's area, "You, if you ever have a fire at a hoarder house, and if there's someone inside, they're as good as dead. I'm sorry it sounds dark, but it's true." He was right."

"Oh yes he was," Hoshi replied. "Say, Kanan-kun, didn't your dad say his first fire as an interior-certified volunteer was at a hoarder house?"

"Yeah," Kanan replied as she nodded. "It was a small one, so they were able to knock it down and pull the guy out before he got killed. He died in a nursing home two years later. His house got torn down."

* * *

Later, back at the apartment, Chika and You talked about the hoarder house. "No way," Chika replied after You told her about the idol shrine. "That's disgusting! He was like 70 or something, and we were like 16 or 17 when we took those pictures."

"It wasn't really that that bothered me," You replied. "It was the fact that he left his tissues in the same damn spot he did all that stuff in. That sealed the deal." She then sighed. "Yeah, it was a long day. I'm sorry if I'm bothering you with this, Chika-chan."

"No, you're fine," Chika replied, not wanting to make You feel bad. "You can tell me anything, You-chan." She then changed subjects. "Say, I was talking to Hanamaru-chan, and she says Ruby wants to become a firefighter like you and Kanan."

You paused for a moment. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah," Chika replied, surprised herself. "I couldn't believe it myself at first either. I guess Ruby wants to get in touch with you and Kanan and see about joining as a third-year high school auxiliary firefighter or whatever it's called."

"Does Dia-chan know? Do her parents know?" You knew that Ruby had to get permission from her parents to join.

"They do as of today," Chika replied. "Her parents are perfectly fine with it. Dia was hesitant at first, but she agreed eventually as well." She then giggled. "Ruby-chan downloaded and printed an application from online and is filling it out now."

"I'd love to have her on the team," You replied as she yawned. "We need more people. We're down to I think 32 guys. My old station in Downtown Numazu had 22 when I left. It isn't safe."

"That doesn't sound good," Chika replied. She then changed subjects again. "So, I heard they're finally gonna start using the old Uranohoshi School building for something."

You, interested, asked her, "What are they gonna do?"

"The Shizuoka Prefectural Police want to convert the school into a training center for SWAT teams," Chika told You. "They may invite the fire department in for some training sessions, like attacks or something."

"Cool," You replied. "I'm down for it, I guess."


	3. Heroes

_**May 10, 2019**_

A call came in at around 5 P.M. for Station 151, Station 156, and Station 152 for a possible boat capsizing with two aboard. You and Kanan had just came home from college, and both ran to the fire station. When they arrived, it had been 3 minutes. For water rescue calls, all firefighters who were trained in water and dive rescue would board Dive Rescue Unit 151, and all non-dive rescue-trained firefighters would board either an ambulance or Rescue 151. Station 152 would send a unit called Van 152 over to Uchiura's marine and drop off any dive rescue-trained volunteers, while Station 156 would send its pumper over and do the same. At the marina, they would board two boats and drive off to the scene of the emergency, with the fire apparatus standing by in the marina parking lot.

You put her bunker gear on and managed to get a seat on Rescue 151, while Kanan instead grabbed her bunker gear, mask, and helmet, threw it in a compartment on DRU 151, and hopped aboard the truck in a black dry suit she had put on that she grabbed from another compartment on the truck. She then grabbed a SCUBA pack and put it on outside before stepping back into the truck. As the truck pulled out of the station alongside Rescue 151, she said to another firefighter who had also boarded DRU 151, "Any word on the two guys in the water?"

"Last I heard," replied the firefighter as he put his seat belt on. "One guy was still afloat and was doing fine. No word on the other guy."

About 7 minutes after the call came in, Rescue 151 and DRU 151 pulled up to the marina. Immediately, Kanan and the other 4 firefighters aboard DRU 151 jumped out and ran down a dock at the marina to Boat 151A. Once they jumped aboard the boat, an older firefighter from Rescue 151 hopped in the driver's seat of the boat, wearing his bunker pants and an orange flotation vest. Leading the dive team was the paid lieutenant on duty at the time, with the other 4 members of the team being volunteers. At the 11 minute mark, Boat 151A sped away from the dock and to the capsized boat just as Boat 151B was getting ready.

When Boat 151A arrived at the 15 minute mark, a police boat was on scene. One of the men from the capsized boat was aboard the police boat, while the other floated in the water, unconscious. A police officer shouted to them, "The guy we got is banged up and has cuts on his legs, but other than that, he's good."

The paid lieutenant then said to Kanan, "Matsuura-san, you're diving with me first." He then pointed at the other three divers. "You three will go in after us if shit hits the fan, got it?"

Kanan nodded and replied, "Yes, sir." They both then put on their masks and turned their SCUBA sets on. Once they were all set, they dived into the waters of Suruga Bay, which were relatively frigid in May. Once they splashed down, they quickly swam over to the second boater. As they got there, Kanan said to the paid lieutenant, "I think he's still alive!"

The paid lieutenant then flipped the man over so his face wasn't in the water. "I'll grab the upper body. Kanan, get the lower body." The two of them then grabbed a hold of the man and swam towards the other three divers, who stayed on the boat and stood by just in case anything went wrong. "I feel a faint pulse!"

Once they got near the boat, the other three divers pulled the man out of the water and onto the boat before Kanan and the paid lieutenant took their masks off. "Ah, fuck," Kanan said as she turned to the paid lieutenant. "That guy was fucking heavy! I'm surprised he didn't sink!"

As they climbed aboard, the other three divers began to check for vital signs. One of them said, "He's not breathing! We're starting CPR and rescue breaths!"

The paid lieutenant immediately went over to a medical bag aboard the boat and grabbed an O2 tank and mask as one firefighter began to do chest compressions while Kanan did rescue breaths. He then said to the driver, "Get to the shore immediately!" He then radioed the District Fire Chief for District 15, "Boat 151A to Command, we got a patient who is not breathing. We have CPR started. Do you want to start Shizuoka Air Commuter for an air ambulance?"

"Affirmative," the chief replied. "Expedite your response back to shore."

* * *

An hour later, Kanan and Toshiki talked to each other about the dive rescue call. "Yeah," Toshiki said to her. "I don't think the guy's gonna make it."

"I know he won't," Kanan replied before she sighed. "His condition barely changed when we loaded him into the ambulance before it went to the landing zone. You can't save them all, especially when they weigh 300-something pounds. That shit was not fun."

"I can only imagine," Toshiki replied. He was not interested in diving, but still assisted with shore operations at water rescues. "You dive guys got balls."

Kanan smirked and replied, "Why, thank you. It's part of our job description that we gotta have metaphorical balls of steel to do this, especially for free." They both then laughed. "I'm actually kinda hoping the next serious call we get is an actual fire. That incident with the boat kinda turned me off from diving for the day." She then shrugged. "Eh, it's Uchiura. We barely get fires here, and when we do, they're small and we knock them down in less than 10 minutes. Everything else is all medicals, car accidents because people who shouldn't be anywhere near the driver's seat in the mountains drive in the mountains, and either pulling dead bodies from the water or stranded boats that lost power or got into a fender-bender."

Toshiki nodded and replied, "Ain't that the damn truth."

* * *

Later, at 8:30, as Kanan and You were still at the fire station, they got an unexpected visitor. As Kanan put up a flier for a half-off sale at her family's dive shop, both her and You heard a high-pitched female voice call out from the front of the building, "Kanan-chan? You-chan?"

Both immediately recognized the voice as belonging to Ruby. "Ruby, is that you?" Kanan went over as You continued to do some paperwork on a desk in the station's office.

As Ruby and Kanan met up, the timid redhead said to her, "Hey, uh, Kanan-chan, I have something for you." She then showed her a 4-page application to join the fire department. "I don't know if you already knew this, but..." She then sighed. "I want to become a firefighter like you and You-chan."

Kanan nodded and replied, "I knew already. Hanamaru-chan and your sister told me. Wanna visit?"

Ruby, initially surprised, then excitedly said, "Sure!" Kanan then took her into the firehouse, a somewhat cramped 3-story building that served as the headquarters for District 15 of the NCFD. "Woah... You have all these fire engines..."

"Yep," Kanan replied as she pointed to some of them. "We have two ambulances, a fire pumper, an aerial ladder truck, a heavy rescue, and a dive rescue unit here. It's kinda cramped, since this place was only built for 4 fire engines as opposed to 6." They then went through a double doorway that led to the gear locker room behind the trucks. "This room contains the gear for all of the volunteers. As you can see, we have 45 locker spaces, but only 32 are filled. Each volunteer gets a set of bunker gear, which is what you wear at fires, and a set of medical gear, which is what you wear on an ambulance." She then pointed to her locker and You's locker. "Those are mine and You-chan's lockers."

You then walked in, saying, "Ruby-chan! Hey!"

Ruby turned around and waved hi to her as she said, "I turned my application in to Kanan-chan." She then turned to Kanan and asked her, "Say, what made you want to do this?"

"Well," Kanan began. "Before my dad got hurt, he was a volunteer here for years. Aside from fighting fires, he also was an EMT and a dive rescue technician. Many people he knew are still here. I thought about doing what You-chan did and what you want to do, Ruby-chan, and join as a third-year at Uranohoshi, but with Aqours and the shop, I didn't have much time, and I didn't want to get hurt at a fire and jeopardize Aqours. I joined after I graduated high school, got fire training, went to America to get diving instructor training in my 2nd semester at college, and came back here."

Ruby said to her, "Oh yeah! I forgot your dad was a fireman." The redhead then turned to You. "What made you join, You-chan?"

"My dad is a volunteer at the station I used to be at when I was a third-year, aside from working as a boating captain," You replied. "I split my time at that station and this one until I graduated and moved into an apartment with Chika-chan here. His station didn't do dive rescue, but Kanan got me into diving when I was a first-year. I just gotta complete some more classes over the summer break from college, and I should be all set to join the dive team. Now, what made you so interested in this?"

"Well," Ruby began as she thought to herself. "I saw you guys do it, and it looked so cool. Also, I want to give something back to Uchiura after we all did so much for it. Another thing is is that our great-grandfather was a volunteer in Uchiura before it got annexed, and his brother was a paid firefighter in Numazu that died when the city got bombed. Our grandfather was also a volunteer here before he got hired as a police officer and left."

"Funny you say that," Kanan replied, remembering something about her family's past. "My great-grandfather was also a Numazu City as a volunteer, and he got killed in the air raid, leaving my grandpa orphaned. Say, You-chan, wasn't your great-grandpa's cousin killed fighting the fires from the air raid, too?"

"Oh yeah," You replied. "Funny how the world is. Hell, his name's pretty similar to mine. It was Youichi. Can't tell if that's a cool fact or creepy as hell."

"Mine was Tadashi," Ruby replied, adding to the history lesson. "He was Kurosawa Tadashi."

"Mine was Matsuura Kamon, I think," Kanan replied. "Now that you mention it, it does sound creepy." All three then laughed. "That reminds me for some reason. You-chan, did you fill out the paperwork to take Advanced Interior Volunteer Firefighting Operations?"

"I did," You replied as she held up the form she had to fill out. "I assume you did the same?"

"Yep," Kanan replied before turning back to Ruby. "Alright, I'll get the application in for you. Expect a call from City Hall in the next few weeks, okay?"

Ruby nodded. "Got it. I hope I get in."

* * *

KANAN MATSUURA'S TRAINING (As of May 2019):

 **Auxiliary+Interior Volunteer Firefighter Boot Camp** : August 6, 2018-August 28, 2018 (Combines Auxiliary Volunteer Firefighter (36 Hours) and Interior Volunteer Firefighter (64 Hours) into a 100-hour course held for 6 hours each weekday from 8 AM to 2 PM, with the exception of the final day, which is only 4 hours from 8 AM to 12 PM. Mostly meant for university and high school students. Students under 18 when they complete this course, such as You Watanabe, will not be permitted to enter burning structures at emergencies until their 18th birthday (which now has passed for her), but are authorized to fight vehicle fires and participate in structure fire training with no restrictions.)

 **Advanced Interior Volunteer Firefighting Operations:** (Future) To begin on June 3, 2019 and end on July 17, 2019. (64 Hours of training. Classes held 2-3 times per week from 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.)

 **Certified First Responder:** January 7, 2019-February 5, 2019 (44 Hours of First Aid and limited EMS training held 2-3 times per week for 4 hours per class from 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.)

 **DRI Dive Rescue 1:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018. 24 Hours of instruction.)

 **PADI Master SCUBA Diver,** **PADI Deep Diver** **:** (Attained at the age of 15 while working at her family's dive shop.)

 **PADI Divemaster:** (Attained at the age of 18 while working at her family's dive shop.)

 **PADI Instructor:** (Contains PADI Open Water Surface Instructor and PADI Assistant Instructor. Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

 **PADI Ice Diver:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

 **PADI Dry Suit Diver:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

 **PADI Public Safety Diver:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

 **PADI Enriched Air Diver:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

 **PADI Boat Diver,** **PADI Night Diver,** **PADI Search and Recovery Diver, PADI Emergency Oxygen Provider:** (Attained at the age of 13 while working at her family's dive shop.)

 **PADI Discover Tec:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

 **PADI Tec 40:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

 **DRI Boat Based Diving Operations:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

 **DRI Dry Suit Diving:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

 **DRI Public Safety Diver Survival:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

 **DRI Ice Diving Operations:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

 **DRI Swift Water Rescue Training:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

 **DRI Current/Swift Water Rescue Diving:** (Attained in the United States while Kanan took a semester off to undergo dive instructor training from September 25 to December 20, 2018.)

* * *

YOU WATANABE'S TRAINING (As of May 2019):

 **Auxiliary+Interior Volunteer Firefighter Boot Camp** : August 6, 2018-August 28, 2018 (Combines Auxiliary Volunteer Firefighter (36 Hours) and Interior Volunteer Firefighter (64 Hours) into a 100-hour course held for 6 hours each weekday from 8 AM to 2 PM, with the exception of the final day, which is only 4 hours from 8 AM to 12 PM. Mostly meant for university and high school students. Students under 18 when they complete this course, such as You Watanabe, will not be permitted to enter burning structures at emergencies until their 18th birthday (which now has passed for her), but are authorized to fight vehicle fires and participate in structure fire training with no restrictions.)

 **Advanced Interior Volunteer Firefighting Operations:** (Future) To begin on June 3, 2019 and end on July 17, 2019. (64 Hours of training. Classes held 2-3 times per week from 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.)

 **Certified First Responder:** January 7, 2019-February 5, 2019 (44 Hours of First Aid and limited EMS training held 2-3 times per week for 4 hours per class from 6 P.M. to 10 P.M.)

 **PADI Rescue Diver:** (Attained at the age of 16 at the Matsuura's dive shop.)

 **PADI Dry Suit Diver:** (Attained at the age of 16 at the Matsuura's dive shop.)

 **PADI Boat Diver:** (Attained at the age of 16 at the Matsuura's dive shop.)

 **PADI Emergency Oxygen Provider:** (Attained at the age of 16 at the Matsuura's dive shop.)


	4. Drunk

_**May 11, 2019**_

At the grounds of the former Uranohoshi Girls' High School, the volunteer firefighters of NCFD District 15 gathered for car fire training around 10 in the morning. Station 151 brought with them Pumper 151 with 3 interior volunteers and 2 auxiliary volunteers, Aerial 151 with 2 interior volunteers and 3 auxiliary volunteers, and Ambulance 151A with a paid firefighter, an interior volunteer, and an auxiliary volunteer for a total of 13 firefighters. Station 152 brought with them Pumper 152 with 4 interior volunteers and 1 auxiliary volunteer and Water Tender 152 with 1 interior volunteer and 4 auxiliary volunteers for a total of 10 firefighters. Station 153 brought down Pumper 153 with 2 interior volunteers and 3 auxiliary volunteers. Station 154 brought down Pumper 154 with 3 interior volunteers and 2 auxiliary volunteers. Station 155 brought down Pumper 155 with 3 interior volunteers and 2 auxiliary volunteers and Brush 155 with 2 auxiliary volunteers for a total of 7 firefighters. Station 156 brought down Pumper 156 with 3 interior firefighters and 2 auxiliary volunteers. The volunteers trained every Saturday and Sunday, and were required to attend at least two training sessions per month. Most went to at least 3.

The district fire chief that worked on the shift on duty that day addressed all firefighters outside the front doors of the former school. As they gathered, he said to them, "Alright, folks. Today, we got 4 cars parked in the back of the old school, and we're gonna torch all 4. Car A is a 2004 Nissan Maxima. I'll have Station 151's crew tackle that fire. Car B is a 2000 Nissan Bluebird. I'll have Station 152 take care of that car. Car C is a 2008 Toyota Crown. I'll have Stations 153 and 154 take care of that. Car D is a 2005 Honda Legend. Stations 155 and 156 will take care of that. Your team leaders will work out the details. Good luck, have fun, and learn something."

Several minutes later, You got things started for the crew she was on by throwing a lit flare into the front seat of her crew's car. She then took a plastic 2-gallon can of gasoline and threw it in the back seat of the car before going back to board Pumper 151. She, Kanan, Toshiki, and a volunteer lieutenant named Yamada Masako would be on board the unit along with an auxiliary volunteer who would drive. As she boarded the pumper again, You said to Masako, who was in the front seat, "I lit the flare and threw it in the car, Lieutenant."

"Got it," Masako replied before she began to put her SCBA mask and gloves on. You, Kanan, and Toshiki began to do the same as they also turned their packs on. Once they were all set, Masako said to the driver, "Let's go to that car fire."

Pumper 151 then drove slowly a few yards from the staging area to the scene of the mock car fire. As they did, the gas can exploded once flames reached it, causing the car's windows to shatter and for flames to engulf the inside of the car. They did this to both simulate the effects of a compromised gas tank and to speed up the fire growth. Right after it happened, all 4 interior volunteers aboard jumped out and hooked their masks into their packs.

You and Kanan quickly took two rolls of hose from a side compartment and rolled them out on the ground as Toshiki grabbed the side hard suction hose and a hydrant kit. As he opened up the ground cover for the hydrant and dropped one end of the hard suction hose in, Kanan grabbed two nozzles and ran to the other end of the rolled out hoses to attach them while You and the driver hooked the hoses up to the pump panel. Toshiki then gave a thumbs up to the driver that he was all set with the hydrant before running to Kanan.

You and Masako grabbed one hose while Kanan and Toshiki grabbed another as they moved in. Masako then radioed to the driver as they got to the car, "Pumper 151, go ahead and charge both lines!"

"10-4," the driver replied on the radio. "Here comes your water!"

As both hoses filled with water, Aerial 151 and Ambulance 151 pulled up. Aerial 151's two interior volunteers came off with their masks on as well and grabbed hand tools before going over to the burning car. As Kanan and Toshiki attacked the fire, one of the tires and an airbag exploded at the same time. Masako then said to You, "You-kun, let's approach the car from the opposite side and help them!"

"Got it," You said as they advanced on the fire. As they did, another tire exploded as they opened up their hose line. After about a minute, the fire was largely knocked down, and all that was left was heavy smoke. As sweat ran down You's face within the mask, she continued to pour water into the car.

After about 5 minutes, both teams of two stopped flowing water into the car so they could let the two interior volunteers from Aerial 151 use a rotary saw to open up the engine compartment of the car. As they cut into the metal, sparks flew everywhere. Once they made two cuts, they put the saw down and used two halligan bars to pop open the engine compartment. Once it was opened all the way, Kanan and Toshiki sprayed it down with water as You and Masako put their hose down and grabbed the rotary saw. "We're gonna cur the trunk open now," the lieutenant said as she pointed to the back of the car.

You held the saw as she began to cut into one side of the back of the trunk's lid. After she made that cut, she went to the other side and made the same cut. Once both cuts were made, they used the same halligan bars from before to pop open the trunk. You thought to herself, _"Yet another day here in Uchiura, I suppose."_

* * *

At 9 at night, Kanan talked to Mari over FaceTime. It was 1 in the afternoon over in Italy, where Mari was going to college. "That sounds exciting," Mari replied to Kanan telling her about car fire training. "I heard from Dia-chan that Ruby wants to join you guys."

"Oh yeah," Kanan replied. "She turned in an application to us. She should be expecting a call from City Hall soon telling her what to do next."

Mari, wondering what that was, asked her, "What would they tell her to do?"

"They would call her, tell her she got approved, and she would then go get a physical, and once the results from those are back, she would get another phone call telling her to come down to the firehouse on a Saturday or Sunday to get her turnout gear and be introduced to the guys."

"Sounds wonderful," Mari replied as she smiled. "She's growing up pretty fast, huh? I still remember when she was a shy middle schooler."

"Yeah," Kanan replied. Then, their conversation was interrupted by the sound of her pager. "Speaking of that, I gotta go. Bye, Mari." She then turned off FaceTime as she grabbed her pager and ran out of her house.

"Numazu City Fire Alarm for Station 151, Station 156, and District 15's Chief, respond to [ADDRESS REMOVED] on Prefectural Route 130 for a high-mechanism motor vehicle accident involving two cars," the dispatcher read out over the radio on her pager. "One car is flipped over on its side, and a caller is reporting that the occupants inside are unable to get out at this time. Police will also be en route. Your time is 21:06 hours, dispatcher 89."

As Kanan ran out of her house down the street, she saw an ambulance pull out of the fire station as the siren on the station's roof blared. She also saw another volunteer firefighter run out of his house to the station. As she ran into the station, she looked at the clock and saw it had been 3 minutes since the call came in. As she began to put her bunker gear on, You ran into the station as well. As they both zipped up their coats and grabbed their helmets, they heard Rescue 151 and Ambulance 151B start up. Kanan immediately ran to Rescue 151 and grabbed a seat in the back, while You went to Ambulance 151B and got a seat up front. She said to the driver, "Any updates on the crash?"

"Police are on scene," the driver replied. "The overturned car is crushed. It doesn't sound good."

"Shit," You replied as she radioed out, "Fire Alarm, Ambulance 151B is out with 3." The ambulance then pulled out of the fire station. Rescue 151 then pulled out half a minute later with 5 firefighters aboard.

3 and a half minutes later, Ambulance 151B, followed by Rescue 151, pulled up to a horrific scene. The first car was off to the side of the road, its engine compartment crushed beyond recognition. The driver was out of the car with his passenger, and both were laying on the ground and being attended to by the paid firefighters. Neither of them appeared to have life-threatening injuries. The second car was flipped over on its roof and badly damaged. Firefighters from Pumper 156 and Brush 156 were stabilizing the car with hand tools.

Kanan and Toshiki jumped off of Rescue 151 together and immediately opened up a compartment that carried a set of jaws. Kanan grabbed the spreaders while Toshiki pulled out the cutters. The driver of the rescue then pulled the slide out tray that held the hydraulic engine that powered the jaws and pulled a rip cord to turn it on. As Kanan and Toshiki put their tools down, You and several other firefighters grabbed chocks and cribbing to be used to stabilize the car further.

As You looked into the car, she saw that both patients were not moving. She then noticed something and said, "Oh my God..." The front seat passenger was missing most of his face, while the driver's right eye was hanging out of his eye socket. In the back, the passenger there had a crushed face, indicating he had been thrown into the front passenger seat when the crash occurred. "That's awful," she said to herself.

By now, three more ambulances were on the way from other fire stations in the city. A police officer asked the driver of the other car, "Sir, why did we smell alcohol in your car?"

"Alcohol," the driver groggily replied. "What do you mean, alcohol?" He then laughed. "There was none."

"You're lying," the officer replied as he pulled out a broken bottle of sake taken from his car. "Explain why we found this smashed sake bottle in your car then."

"That was just in there, I guess." He then laughed again. "Agh... Now I feel the pain..."

"That's what I thought," the officer replied. He then turned to a firefighter treating him, saying, "Once you're ready to transport, I'll go with you." He then turned back to the driver. "Sir, when you arrive at the hospital, I'm going to place you under arrest for driving while intoxicated and for reckless endangerment. Do you understand what I am saying to you?"

"Yes," the driver replied as the full weight of his actions began to dawn on him. "I do understand, officer."

At the same time, firefighters were able to pop open the door of the overturned car with the spreaders, causing it to fall to the ground. Kanan and You then reached into the car and carefully removed the driver before lowering him onto a backboard. As they did, blood poured from his wounds onto their bunker gear. The man's eye still hung out of his eye socket as they noticed most of the fingers on his right hand were shredded to the bone. You thought to herself, _"Ugh, this sucks. There's no way this guy's gonna make it. He's too fucked up from the crash."_


	5. Recruit

**_May 19, 2019_**

Instead of holding a training drill, the volunteers held an open house at Station 151 and at the old Uranohoshi campus as part of a nationwide effort to recruit more volunteer firefighters. Kanan and You were among the 14 volunteers from Station 151 who attended, with others coming from the other stations. You worked the kitchen for the first 2 hours before being rotated outside.

As part of an impromptu demonstration, Kanan and You took their medical and bunker gear out to the apron of the firehouse. As a crowd composed mostly of little kids gathered around them, Kanan began addressing the crowd. "So, answer this. How long do you think it takes a firefighter to put this gear on?"

One small boy in the front raised his hand and answered, "A long time, like 3 minutes."

"I say a minute," a little girl also answered.

"2 minutes," another boy answered.

"It is indeed 2 minutes," You said to the crowd. "We have to be able to go from our street clothes to fully packed up and on air in 2 minutes. As for our gear we wear on the ambulance, we are expected to put that on in a minute." She then took her shoes off. "Now, who wants to see Firefighter Watanabe and Firefighter Matsuura put their gear on?" The kids all cheered. "Good answer!"

They both then quickly slipped their feet into their boots as they put their hoods on before pulling their pants up by the straps. They then quickly zipped them up before putting their coats on and zipping them up. Once that was done, they then both grabbed air packs they had laid next to their gear and swung them around to put them on before clipping in the waist strap and tightening that and the shoulder straps. Once that was done, they quickly put their SCBA masks on and tightened the straps before grabbing their helmet and putting that on. Then, they connected the long tube on their masks to an air regulator on their waist strap before turning the SCBA on, allowing both to breathe pack air. Finally, they tightened their helmets and put their gloves on.

"That took about a minute and 42 seconds," Hoshi Sando replied as he stopped a timer on his phone. "Good job."

Some of the kids balked at seeing Kanan and You in their full gear ensemble. Others ran up to them and gave them hi-fives. Kanan said to one little girl, "Hi there!"

"Hi Miss Fireman," the girl innocently called her. "I wonder, can you sing in that mask?"

Kanan was somewhat surprised, but decided to take it on. "Of course I can." She then laughed. "Hey, You-chan, this girl asked us to sing." She then turned to her. "What do you want us to sing?"

"HAPPY PARTY TRAIN," the girl said. "It's my favorite song."

"Mine too," Kanan replied. She actually did consider the song to be her favorite out of all of Aqours' music, and she remembered the entirety of the song. She then closed her eyes and began, surprising You, who then joined in with her. "Omoi o nosete HAPPY HAPPY TRAIN to go! Ashita ga yonderu bokutachi o!"

Suddenly, as they began to sing the next line, they stopped as they heard five more voices near them join in. As they both looked up, Kanan and You saw that Chika, Hanamaru, Ruby, Yoshiko, and Riko were all singing. "Kitai de kagayaku hitomi nara mieru yo! Tooi eki de kitto nanika ga matteru ne!" As they finished the chorus, all of the little kids clapped and cheered.

You said to them, "Hey! Good job! You almost gave me and Kanan heart attacks when you joined in."

Chika then laughed. "I thought I'd stop down with the gang. How's it going?"

"Good," You replied. "A girl asked Kanan to sing HAPPY PARTY TRAIN in her mask." She then took her helmet off before unclipping her mask tube from the regulator and taking her mask off. "We were showing the little kids how we looked with our full gear on."

"You look like a special little demon with it on," Yoshiko replied in her lower Yohane voice. "Like you are prepared to take on the fallen angel's greatest enemies in the field of battle."

* * *

Later on, as You and Kanan were putting stuff away in boxes in an old athletic shed as the day wound down, Chika walked up to them and asked them, "Hey, uh, You-chan, Kanan-chan, can I show you something?"

You turned around and asked her, "What's up?" She noticed that Chika was hiding something behind her.

She then pulled out a small packet. "I... I filled out an application after I heard that Ruby was joining." She then showed You and Kanan the application to join the fire department as a volunteer. "You-chan, I'm tired of wondering what goes on when you leave for calls and being worried. I want to get up and go with you."

"I see," You replied as she looked it over. "Chika-chan, you do understand that this is a dangerous job, even if you are just an auxiliary volunteer. Those 52 names on the Firefighters' Memorial in Downtown Numazu prove it."

"I know about that," she adamantly replied. "I love Uchiura too much to just stand by when something happens. I want to be part of the solution just like you and Kanan."

Kanan chimed in, saying, "I'd take her. We need all the people we can get. Sure, we went from 32 to 36 assuming Ruby and those 3 new applicants from today that live in Station 151's area get in, but we could use a 36th person. Remember, my dad always talks about when we had 45 guys here and we were getting our entire station off the floor in just 9 minutes as opposed to 15. Plus, Ruby-chan wants to go interior like us. We only got 18 interiors. Assuming Chika-chan does too, we'll be up to 20 for the first time since my Dad was in."

"I get it," You replied as she took Chika's application. "I was just a little worried, that's all." Chika's eyes beamed with joy.

* * *

 _ **May 21, 2019**_

Kanan laughed as Toshiki told her a story about a time where he had walked in on a couple at the firehouse on what was known as "The Couch," a couch dating from the late 1980s that was infamous in the firehouse for being used by many of the firefighters as a place to have sex with their wives or girlfriends when no one else was around a while ago before women entered the fire service in larger numbers. "So then I see him and his girlfriend walk out as they're adjusting their clothes, and he tells me, "When you get a girlfriend, or a boyfriend, I don't judge, you'll understand." His girlfriend was pretty hot, too. After they walked out, I was just dying of laughter."

"Wow," Kanan replied before she drank some water. "You know, apparently, there's a good chance I was made in the firehouse, though not in the couch."

"No way," Toshiki said in disbelief. "Did... Did your parents actually do that?"

"Well, of course." It did feel weird for her to be talking about her own parents engaging in such behavior. "My dad and my mom started having sex here before they were married. You see, I was born on my parents' first wedding anniversary, and about 9 months before, they began doing it here for the first time since they were married, so... Yeah..." She then laughed slightly. "There's a reaaaly good chance I was conceived here. Apparently, on their first time, a paid firefighter accidentally walked in, but he just gave them a thumbs-up in approval and walked out to let them continue."

"No fucking way," he replied as he tried to contain his laughter. "That's fucking weird. I guess you can say you were literally made for the fire service, eh?" They both then cackled in laughter. As they calmed down, he said to her, "Say, would you ever do anything like that?"

"If I had someone to do it with, maybe," Kanan told him as she yawned. "Have you?"

"No," Toshiki replied as she blushed slightly. "I haven't. I mean, I guess I would..."

Kanan then smiled before she got up and said, "Really? You don't gave a girlfriend? I'm surprised."

"Yep. Haven't had one since high school, and we never did anything involving sex." He then shrugged. "We just never got to that poi-"

He then immediately stopped himself in his tracks when Kanan took her shirt off, revealing a sports bra underneath. She then said, "Heh, I see."

"Uhhh... Kanan-kun, what are you doing?" Toshiki felt himself blush harder as she laughed.

"You know, I've been wondering whether you were taken since I got in here," she told him as she took his hand and guided him to standing up. "Listen, if you don't wanna do anything, that's fine. Just say no, and I'll stop, and we'll never mention this again."

"I mean," Toshiki stammered out. "You... You do have a nice body, Kanan-kun..." He admired her body, which was well-built and even a little muscular, indicating her strength, as she brushed her hair back with her hand. "Are you... Are you really sure about this?"

"Of course," Kanan told him as she motioned to go to the firehouse rec room upstairs as she showed him a condom from her pants pocket. "Wanna take this upstairs? The paid guys won't notice us in the back rec room while they're in the front.

Toshiki then sighed before he smiled and said, "Hell yeah."

* * *

Several hours later, around 10 PM, Kanan and Mari were talking over Skype to each other. "Anyways, I got some interesting news, Mari-chan."

"Oh," Mari replied, interested. "What is it? Did something molto buono happen recently? She then giggled at her use of Italian. "I'm telling you, my Italian is impeccable now. I had some issues at first, but now, I'm almost like a native speaker."

"Good, good," Kanan replied as she smiled. "Well, me and this guy at the firehouse are dating now."

Suddenly, Mari's expression changed from genuine general happiness to feigned happiness. "Ah, I see. Did this just happen?"

"Yep," Kanan replied, not noticing her mood. "We talked with each other, and one thing led to another, and we kinda sorta had sex at the firehouse." She then laughed. "Yeah... Don't worry, I had a condom and whatnot. We were fine."

"That's very nice," Mari replied as she pretended to yawn and wiped her eyes. "Well, I had only very early morning classes, and I stayed up most of the night, so I'm probably gonna go get some more sleep."

"Okay, bye-bye, Mari-chan!"

"Bye-bye, Kanan-chan!" Mari then disconnected. She then stopped faking happiness and frowned.

Her room mate, who walked in right after, noticed this. She asked in Italian, "Hey, Mari, are you alright?"

"No," Mari replied as she wiped her eyes of tears. "I... I just... My heart just got broken."

"Broken? By a boy back home?" Sofia was immediately concerned. "Didn't you have a one-night stand with a guy here last year?"

"Not a boy back home," Mari replied. "Another girl... And yes, I did, but I was going to try to tell my friend how I felt when I got home, but now..." She then began to cry. "I guess that's not happening..."

Sofia was taken aback by Mari's confession. "You... You're a lesbian? But what about Marco last year?"

"I'm not a lesbian, Sofia... I like boys and girls, and Marco was just a one-time thing..." She then tried to hold back her tears. "Kanan... I've loved Kanan as far more than just a friend since high school, but never told her. I expected myself to have the occasional one night stand here in Italy, but after I graduated, I was going to stay open for her and tell her how I feel." She then hugged her room mate. "Now I know Kanan doesn't love me back..." She then sobbed into her friend's chest.

"Mari," Sofia told her as she returned the hug. "It's okay... Let it all out..."

* * *

Back in Japan, as soon as Kanan clicked out of Skype, her pager rang, slightly startling her. "Ah, motherfucker!"

"Numazu City Fire Alarm for Station 156, Station 151, and the District 15 Fire Chief, respond to a Fire Alarm Activation at [ADDRESS REMOVED], the [CONVENIENCE STORE NAME REMOVED], for a general fire alarm in the building called in by the alarm company. Police will also be responding for a burglar alarm activation as well. Repeating for Station 156, Station 151, and the District 15 Fire Chief, respond to a Fire Alarm Activation at [ADDRESS REMOVED], the [CONVENIENCE STORE NAME REMOVED], for a general fire alarm in the building called in by the alarm company. Police will also be responding for a burglar alarm activation as well. Time is 2210 hours, Dispatcher 89."

Kanan quickly got up, grabbed her pager and cellphone, and ran out of the house as she thought to herself, _"Just another night as a firefighter, Kanan..."_


	6. Brothers

_**May 24, 2019**_

Ruby, Yoshiko, and Hanamaru hung out together at the Kunikida family temple after school. Due to some prior commitments, Yoshiko also had to bring her younger brother Yousuke with them. He was going to turn 14 in early June, and was now a third year in middle school. Yoshiko had introduced him to Aqours along with the rest of her family a while back, and he had gotten along well with Hanamaru and Ruby.

"Zuramaru," Yoshiko called out as she cleaned a small statue in a hallway and held an empty spray bottle. "I ran out of cleaning spray."

"I'm on it," she quickly replied as she turned to Yousuke. "Yousuke-kun, get me the purple stuff in the cabinet underneath the sink, zura."

"Got it," he replied as he walked over to the kitchen area. As he rummaged through the sink cabinet, he found what he was looking for. He then called out, "I found it, Kunikida-san!"

He then ran back out and handed the bottle to Hanamaru. She told him, "Thank you, Yousuke-kun." She then smiled, making the boy blush.

Later, Yousuke relaxed in the temple's small onsen by himself. As he adjusted himself in the water, he said to himself, "Ahhh, this feels nice..."

Suddenly, he saw a shape open the door and appear in the mist. Thinking maybe it was Hanamaru's father, he waved the visitor on.

"C'mon in, Mr. Kunikida! The water's nice an-" He then stopped himself in horror when he realized that it was actually three shapes in the mist, and none of them were her father. "Oh shit..."

Hanamaru's voice then called out, "Yousuke-kun?! Is that..." As she, Ruby, and Yoshiko appeared from the mist, Ruby and Yousuke screamed in fright. Ruby also accidentally dropped her towel, exposing herself before she quickly picked it up and put it back on.

Hanamaru laughed hysterically, nonchalantly dropping her towel and going in to the water, shocking the other 3. Yoshiko called out to her brother, "You pervert! What... Why?!"

"C'mon," Hanamaru replied. "It's not his fault. I forgot to tell him about the hour rotation thing we do here, zura. Besides, the three of us are almost adults here, Yoshiko-chan, and I'm pretty sure you and your brother have seen each other naked before."

Yousuke said to them, immensely guilty, "I am so sorry! I didn't mean any of this!"

"It's fine," Hanamaru replied as she walked over to him. "Listen, it's just the 4 of us here, zura. Nobody's gonna be doing anything bad, okay?" She then waves over Yoshiko and Ruby. "C'mon in!"

Ruby stammered out as she shivered in fright, "I... I can't get married... He saw me naked..."

"What the hell?" Hanamaru was confused immensely by Ruby. "Can't get married? Ruby-chan, this has nothing to do with that kind of stuff, zura! You're fine!"

Yoshiko finally decided to go in. "I guess I'll go in." She then shot a death glare at her younger brother. "Don't do anything stupid, okay, Yousuke-kun? This doesn't mean anything."

"I know, I know," he replied as Ruby reluctantly got in. "Again, I'm sorry for the mix up."

"It's fine, zura." the brunette replied. "So, Ruby-chan, any word back from the fire department?"

"Oh yeah," Ruby replied. "I got a call saying they had checked it over. Chika-chan turned one in too."

"Chika?!" Both Yoshiko and Hanamaru were surprised that Chika wanted to join. Hanamaru replied, "I never thought of her as the type to do that kind of stuff, zura. Why now, and why so suddenly?"

"She wants to work together with You-chan and Kanan-chan," the still somewhat afraid redhead replied. "I can't blame her."

Hanamaru then noticed that Yousuke was still quiet and turned away. "Hey, c'mon. Don't hide."

"It's just...," he replied. "It's so weird." He still covered himself and was blushing in embarrassment.

"Why don't we break the ice, zura?" She then laughed. "So, Yousuke-kun, how are you enjoying your last year of middle school so far?"

"It's good," he replied quietly. "So far, it's easier than I thought it would be, I guess. The teachers are all nice, and my class isn't awful like last year."

Ruby asked him, "How bad could it be?"

"You don't wanna know," Yoshiko quickly replied as she shook her head. "From the stories he's told me, you really don't wanna know."

* * *

 _ **May 25, 2019**_

At 3 in the morning, You was awoken by the loud beeping of her pager. As she quickly shuffled out of bed, her pager rang again as the firehouse siren kicked on. She quickly grabbed her phone, her pager, and her keys to get into the firehouse before slipping on her sneakers and running out the bedroom door. On the street, she quickly ran down the sidewalk as the siren continued to roar. "Numazu City Fire Alarm for Station 151, Station 152, Station 156, and the District 15 Fire Chief, respond to a possible structure fire at [ADDRESS REMOVED]. Caller is a passerby reporting heavy smoke from the first floor, says nobody is home at this time. Repeating, Numazu City Fire Alarm for Station 151, Station 152, Station 156, and the District 15 Fire Chief, respond to a possible structure fire at [ADDRESS REMOVED]. Caller is a passerby reporting heavy smoke from the first floor, says nobody is home at this time. Time is 0301 hours, Dispatcher 36."

Within 3 minutes of the call, she arrived at the firehouse as Engine 151 started up. She also saw Kanan run into the firehouse. As they quickly put their gear on, they heard a police car speed past the fire station on a perpendicular road, followed by the District 15 Fire Chief. After they finished, they both ran to Pumper 151 and jumped in the back with another volunteer as an older auxiliary volunteer took the driver's seat and a paid lieutenant took the front seat. After they, minus the driver, grabbed their air packs and put them on outside, they quickly stepped back on. Then, at the 4 and a half minute mark, the engine sped out of the fire station.

The paid lieutenant radioed, "Pumper 151 is out with 5, 4 interior." After he did, he turned to the back and said, "Alright, based on the initial dispatch, I think it's a working fire, so get your masks on and get ready."

Kanan quickly took her helmet off to put her mask on as You said to her, "Looks like we'll take the first line in."

The other volunteer with them said to them, "I'll grab the second line with the lieutenant."

At the 7 minute mark, Pumper 151 pulled up to flames coming from the first floor of a small house. You and Kanan quickly jumped off the truck and grabbed two rolls of hose from the engine before rolling them out to the front steps of the house. As You turned her air pack on, Kanan quickly connected one end of her hose to the pump panel before turning her air pack on and putting her gloves on. "You-chan!" She then grabbed a nozzle and threw it to You, who then connected it to one end of her hose before putting her gloves on. Then, Kanan connected both lengths of hose together and ran up to You as they both hooked their masks into their packs and proceeded to the fire. As they did all that, the paid lieutenant and the other volunteer had hit the hydrant and had begun to lay out the second line.

You radioed, "Pumper 151 Interior to Operator Fujima, charge the first line!" As their hose filled with water, Kanan stepped in front of You with a sledgehammer and a crowbar. She then whacked the door several times with the sledgehammer before forcing it open with a crowbar. As she did, she gave a hand signal to You to open up on the nozzle and knock the fire down. As she did and advanced inside, Kanan dropped the off at the front and took the sledgehammer in with her behind You.

Kanan said to her as they crawled on their knees through the thick grey smoke, "Hit the ceiling! Hit the ceiling!" As You knocked the fire down above and in front of her, the smoke became thicker in response, completely obscuring their vision.

As they continued to crawl through what seemed to be a front living room, You continued to hit the fire hard. As they came up on a door to the kitchen, You told Kanan, "Get that door!"

As Kanan hit the door, the other two firefighters entered the building behind them. After about 6 smacks of the sledgehammer, Kanan pushed up against the door and forced it open. "The seat of the fire is in there!"

You then moved in as she opened up with the nozzle, knocking down the fire. As she did, the paid lieutenant radioed to incident command, "Interior to Command, we got the seat of the fire knocked down at this time. We'll keep pushing in and checking for extensions."

* * *

At 5:40 in the morning, Pumper 151 returned to the station. As Kanan and You got off the engine, the bluenette patted You on the back, telling her, "Good job with that initial attack."

"Thanks," You replied. As they walked to their lockers and began to take their gear off, she said to her, "Heard anything back from the city on Ruby-chan or Chika-chan's applications?"

"Not as of yet," she replied. "Ruby-chan should be approved soon, since her parents are okay with it." She then turned to Toshiki, who was next to her. "Hey, handsome. How's your morning?"

"I'm pretty tired," he replied as he yawned. "But other than that, I'm good." He then handed Kanan and You bottles of water. "Drink up. You two deserve it after that interior attack."


	7. Probie

_**June 1, 2019**_

That Saturday, the volunteer firefighters at Station 151 met up for a training drill at 9 in the morning. Among them included Ruby, who had taken her physical a week prior. Leading the training exercise today was Volunteer Lieutenant Yamada Masako and Volunteer Captain Honda Yoshihisa. Yoshihisa, before the drill began, said to the group of 12 other firefighters who had shown up, "Okay, before we begin, I'd like to introduce our newest volunteer firefighter. Her name is Kurosawa Ruby, and she's a third-year in high school currently. She was issued gear just before we began, and we'll be bringing her down to the tower for our drill. Make her feel welcome, and teach her some things."

Ruby then said to the group somewhat nervously, "Uh... Hi... My name is Kurosawa Ruby. I'm 17 years old, and I go to a high school in Numazu. I used to go to Uranohoshi, where I was a school idol, before it closed. I know Kanan-chan and You-chan already. I hope I do well today."

"You'll be fine," Masako replied. "Trust me, Kurosawa-san. Everyone here was nervous when they first came here."

Then, Yoshihisa began to go over the training detail, "Okay, on Pumper 151, I'll be the officer. Kishou-kun (Chiba Kishou, Auxiliary), you're driving. You-kun, Kanan-kun and a paid guy will jump in the back. On Aerial 151, Lieutenant Yamada is up front. Ryou-kun (Yamada Ryou, Auxiliary), you're driving. Hoshi-kun, Toshiki-kun, and Kurosawa-san will jump in the back. On Ambulance 151, a paid guy will be up front, and Hiro-kun (Yamada Hiro, Auxiliary) is driving. On Rescue 151, Mamoru-kun (Yuma Mamoru, Interior) is up front, Hideki-kun (Matsumoto Hideki, Auxiliary) is driving, and Yuuko-kun is in the back (Kaneki Yuuko, Auxiliary). If we get a dive rescue or water rescue call, Ambulance 151 will go direct to the dock, and Pumper 151's crew will head back to the station to pick up Dive Rescue 151. Alright, now that we have that out of the way, let's talk about the drill. Today, we're gonna be doing auto extrication. We have a car waiting to be ripped apart. Stations 153 and 154 will also be there with their engines to rip apart a second car. They're gonna be using the second set of jaws on Rescue 151, while we'll use the first set. Stations 152, 156, and 155 are running a water relay training drill there today as well, so it's gonna be busy. Alright, go get dressed and get on the rigs."

You, Kanan, and Ruby all walked out together to their lockers. As Kanan and You seamlessly put their bunker gear on, Ruby had a little trouble with the coat at first, but got through it. They then hopped onto their assigned trucks. As Ruby sat in her seat, she thought to herself, _"This is going to be so much fun!"_

* * *

 _ **June 3, 2019**_

Yousuke heard a knock at the door to the Tsushima Residence. He ran over to it and looked through the peephole to find Hanamaru standing outside. He then opened the door and said to her, "Hey, Kunikida-san. I assume you're here to visit Yoshiko-oneesan?"

"Yep," the brunette replied as she took her shoes off and walked inside. "We're studying together for a test. Where is she?"

"She had to stop and get something for our mom," he replied as he grabbed a glass and poured himself some water. "You're free to stay here until she comes back. I don't mind." He thought to himself about Hanamaru, _"Kunikida-san is kinda cute, not gonna lie. Agh, come on, Yousuke. She's a third-year high schooler and you're a third-year middle schooler."_

Hanamaru said to him, "Are you still worried about that hot spring incident, zura?" She then said to herself, "Damn it, it slipped out again."

"What slipped out again?"

"The word "zura,"" she replied. "I've been really cutting down on it, but I still say it sometimes."

"Oh," he replied. "Yeah, uh, I'm not worrying about that anymore."

"Good," she replied. "Don't worry, Ruby-chan's fine. She just overreacted that night, that's all."

"Phew," he said to her in relief. "That's a relief."

* * *

Later that same day, as the volunteers mopped up at a call in regards to a contained oven fire, Ruby and Kanan went over some of the equipment on Pumper 151 after she put the last of the hose away. "Over here is where we keep some forcible entry tools, a hydrant wrench, and a spare SCBA for the driver." She then opened the compartment. "We have a halligan bar, a flathead and a pickhead axe, a crowbar, a FUBAR tool, and a pair of bolt cutters." She pointed out which one was which. "We do have name tags above each tool's spot, but it's nice to memorize them anyway. All of these tools are standard tools for firefighters, and aren't useful at just fires. We've used them for welfare checks, car accidents, lockouts, and more."

"Wow," Ruby replied as she looked on. "These tools look so cool." She then pulled out a halligan bar. "You'd think they're heavy, but they are actually pretty light." She then noticed Kanan looking at her and said, "Pigii! I'll put it back..."

"No, don't do that," Kanan replied to reassure her. "Take it out. Get a feel for the tool. It's the only way you'll get comfortable enough to use it."

"I see," Ruby replied as she admired it. "Hey, Kanan-chan, can you and You-chan maybe help me with exercise in an air pack and gear?"

"Of course," Kanan replied as she smiled. "I got a good idea for one, actually."

* * *

 ** _June 4, 2019_**

After school, around 7, You, Kanan, and Ruby met up at he foot of the long staircase to the temple where Kanan often worked out. All 3 had their turnout gear, a spare air pack from the station, and a spare air bottle. As Ruby put her gear and air pack on, she tightened the straps and turned her air pack on as You and Kanan did the same. You said to Ruby, "Ruby-chan, if at any point you don't feel comfortable or you feel sick, tell us and we'll stop, okay? There's no shame in tapping out. Your safety comes before everything else."

"Got it," Ruby replied as she undid her pigtails and pulled her hair back to put her mask on. She then pulled her hood up and put her helmet on before putting her gloves on last. She gave a thumbs-up to both of them as they did the same. "I'm as ready as I can ever be!" She then moved her arms and said, "Ganbaruby!"

You and Kanan then laughed as they clipped their mask's long tube into their belt-mounted regular as Ruby did the same. Kanan said to her, "Let's do this."

As Ruby felt the rush of air from the pack as she breathed, she said, "Woah... It feels weird at first." She then began to walk up the long set of stairs, determined to keep walking until she was out of air. You and Kanan walked up behind her and watched her.

"Remember," Kanan said. "We don't run up the stairs with our gear. We walk at a brisk pace." She then said to You, "I love doing this."

"Same here," You replied as she laughed.

After about 7 minutes of climbing, they reached the top of the stairs. Kanan said to Ruby, "Tell me how much air you have left. You had 300 bar of air to start. I'm at about 225 bar, and You-chan is at around 210 bar."

"I'm at 200 bar," Ruby replied. "I'm a bit tired, but I can keep going. Let's go back down."

"Agreed," You replied as the three began their journey back down the stairs, which only took 5 minutes.

At the bottom, Kanan read out, "I'm at 175 bar."

"About 160 bar for me," You replied.

"140 for me," Ruby replied. "Is that bad?"

"No," Kanan replied. "You're not used to wearing an air pack yet. Once you are, you'll use up less air. To be honest, you're doing very good for someone who's never worn one outside of a fit-test at a physical, probably due to the whole school idol thing."

"Probably." Ruby replied as she began to climb back up the stairs. This time, the journey took about 8 minutes.

At the top, Kanan read out, "I'm at exactly 125 bar."

You's was also vibrating. She read out, "110 bar here."

"80 bar here," Ruby replied. "This is exhausting."

Kanan asked her, "Do you need a break?"

Ruby simply shook her head and replied, "Hell no!" She then paused for a second in shock. "Did I just say that?"

"That's okay," You replied as she patted Ruby on he back. "You should see me swear up a storm sometimes. I say some pretty fucked up shit when I don't have to censor myself in certain company, Ruby-chan, and so does Kanan-chan. I've heard her say "fuck" more times in the short time I've been at Station 151 as a volunteer than I have in the past God knows how many damn years I've known her outside of the firehouse."

"It's true," Kanan replied as she laughed. "Especially when you have some fun with your boyfriend at the firehouse." She and You then laughed. "Trust me, you'll take the Lord's name in vain plenty of times, and you'll say a lot of vulgar words, when you're doing that kind of stuff with someone else."

Ruby blushed underneath her mask and replied, "Oh my... I've never really had much of an experience with swearing. Dia-oneechan said some bad words very rarely when she got really mad at something, but not as frequent as that, and definitely not like that." She then started back down the stairs. "Let's take a break after we go back down."

"Agreed," You replied as she and Kanan started back down, too.


	8. Love

**_June 8, 2019_**

Yousuke and Yoshiko were finishing homework in the living room of their family apartment when Yousuke asked her, "Yoshiko-oneechan, have you met old friends from middle school at the new high school in Numazu?"

"Yeah," Yoshiko replied as she signed her name on a sheet of finished homework. "I've met some. They've all said that I've changed quite a bit since middle school, though in other ways I'm exactly the same. There was this one who I haven't seen in a while, not even when I first moved into that school last year, that got placed into my class this year."

"What's their name?"

"His name was Hirose Daichi," she replied. "He was this boy in my class in my second and third years of middle school, the latter being the true height of my Yohane persona." She then smiled. "He was like the only guy that actually talked to me, since all the others, and even many of the girls, were a bit creeped out by me bringing up fallen angels and demons and all that." She then laughed. "I gotta be honest, I'm surprised Uranohoshi let it slide given that they were a Catholic school. Looking back, I think he had a crush on me because he was sort of into the stuff Yohane was all about." She then laughed again. "But, I'm sure he's over it now. I mean, I've drastically toned down that stuff since there's no need to truly stand out from the crowd anymore."

Yousuke could tell that his older sister sounded sad based on how she said the last sentence. "Are you okay, oneechan?"

"Yeah," Yoshiko replied as she sighed. "It's just... I miss the days when it was me, Ruby, Hanamaru, and everyone else in Aqours together. But, nothing lasts forever. Besides, I still keep up with all of them, especially Riko-chan. Even so, I still look at my Yohane outfit sometimes and reminisce of when I did that stuff with the livestreams and on stage." She then yawned. "Maybe one day, I can truly do her story justice."

"You want to write out Yohane's story?" Yousuke was curious about Yoshiko's motives for doing so. "How detailed is it?"

"Surprisingly so," Yoshiko replied as she reached for another sheet of homework. "I think I still got that 10-page summary of her backstory in my room somewhere. I could easily adapt that into a novel or something, hence why I've been looking up a lot about writing techniques and strategies recently."

"Oh yeah," Yousuke replied as he remembered. "I remember you showing me some short stories you did based on prompts online. You did pretty good."

"Thanks," the dark blue-haired girl replied to her younger brother as she smiled.

"Say, did... Did you ever have a crush on anyone before you met Riko-chan?" Yousuke's change in subject was out of left field for his sister.

"Huh? Well..." Yoshiko thought to herself before she decided to break out Yohane once more. "Brother unit, don't you know that a fallen angel shouldn't concern herself with such earthly desires unless she meets a special little demon?" She and Yousuke then both laughed. "Aaah, I miss doing that voice. Anyways, to answer your question, I guess I have in the past before her. Nothing that lasted too long, though. How about you?"

"I...," Yousuke replied as he struggled to give an answer. _"I wanna say Kunikida-san, but I know she wouldn't like that."_ "Same as you pretty much. Nothing long-lasting or important."

"Sounds about right," she replied. "Now, need help with that math?" She then got a phone call and grabbed her phone from the table. "Hello?"

"Hey, Yoshiko," Riko replied to her. "How's it going, love?"

"Pretty well," she replied as she smiled. "Just helping my brother out with math, that's all."

* * *

 _ **June 9, 2019**_

Today, Chika and Ruby both went through SCBA training with You and Kanan after a drill involving hoses, with this Sunday being Chika's first day as a firefighter. The four of them gathered at the same spot where they normally did SCBA climbs, the long stairs. Chika had little trouble putting on an SCBA as she clipped into air and began breathing it in. As the other three waited for her, she gave a thumbs up and said, "I'm ready!"

"Good," Kanan replied. "Now, let's climb!"

As the four of them walked up the stairs, Chika said to Ruby, "How are you doing so far?"

"Pretty good," the redhead replied as she checked her air. "Kanan-chan, You-chan, we're going good here!"

"Good," Kanan called out. "Keep climbing!"

Later on, after the four had breathed down their bottles completely after climbing up and down the stairs numerous times, they relaxed and took off their gear aside from their bunker pants. As Chika wiped sweat off of her forehead, she drank a bottle of water. "Damn, that was exhausting."

"It always is," You replied as she passed a water bottle to Ruby. "You guys both did fine, though. You're new to this." She then looked around and noticed an older man stumble towards them, clearly in pain. "Huh? Are you alright?!"

"Help," the older man groaned in pain as he clutched his chest and fell to the ground. "I'm having a..." His voice then trailed off as the four firefighters ran to him.

Kanan took a BLS bag with her that was intended just in case any of them went down during g the stair climb and ran to the old man as she instructed, "Ruby, call 119 now! This guy's having a heart attack!"

As Ruby called 119 and began talking to a dispatcher, You began talking to the old man, asking him, "Sir, when did you begin to start feeling these pains?"

"Half an hour ago," the old man weakly replied.

"His heartbeat is pretty fast," Kanan replied as he checked the old man's pulse. "The color is also pretty drained from his face."

As Kanan reached to grab the old man's wallet to get some form of identification, You asked him, "What is your name?" She also grabbed an O2 bottle and a mask.

"Isoroku," the man them. "I am Hori Isoroku." He then coughed. "I can't breathe!"

"Shit," Kanan replied. "You-chan, get that mask on him!" She then turned to Ruby. "Ruby-chan, tell them he can't breathe!"

"Got it," Ruby replied as she continued to talk to the dispatcher.

"Hurry up with that O2 bottle, You-chan!"

As Chika and Ruby watched, You put the mask over the old man's face before hooking it into the O2 bottle and turning it on. As they did, they could hear the siren of an ambulance grow closer, since the firehouse wasn't too far away. "Thank God," You replied. "They'll get him to the hospital quick."

* * *

Later that day, Kanan looked out at the ocean from her home, wondering about the day's events. She said to herself, "That was pretty crazy, huh?" She then thought to herself, _"At least that old man is still alive. Had it not been for us, he'd be dead. Anyways, Ruby-chan and Chika-chan are doing good, but they need more work and training. Hopefully, they'll both pass the summer boot camp this year that's coming up in a few weeks."_

She then got a text on her phone from Mari. "hiii Kanan!"

"hey Mari," Kanan texted back. "what's up"

"not much." Mari then took a while to type out her next text. "Kanan, can you call me?"

Kanan said to herself, "Huh? Call her?" She then went to dial her number and pressed the call button.

Mari almost immediately picked up, answering in Italian, "Ciao, Kanan!"

"Hey, Mari-chan," Kanan replied, smiling. "What's up?"

"Well," Mari said as her tone became slightly somber. "You see... Me and my boyfriend over here broke up recently, and I just needed someone to talk about it with."

"That sucks," Kanan replied, feeling bad for her friend. "Go ahead and vent if you need to."

"Thank you," Mari replied back to her, grateful. "Well, the thing is... Kanan-chan, I need to ask you a question. Are you... Are you into other girls at all?"

"What?" Kanan was confused by the question posed to her. "Well... I don't think so. I have a boyfriend of sorts of my own. I know you are, Mari-chan."

"Ah," Mari replied in an odd tone. "It's fine. Anyways, me and him split up because it really just wasn't working out between us." Kanan could tell something was off about her tone, but not exactly what. "We don't hate each other over it or anything. We just couldn't date anymore."

"Sorry about that," Kanan replied, thinking she was just trying to cope with the breakup and was not thinking straight. "I'm sure you'll find your true love one day, Mari-chan."

"I will," Mari reassured her, and herself. "Trust me." Wanting to change the subject matter, she asked, "So, how is that Advanced Firefighter class going with you and You-chan?"

"It's going pretty good," she replied, also glad Mari changed the subject matter. "The first day was an introduction class, and the second day was 4 hours of just live burns at the Numazu City Fire Academy. It was pretty fun."

"I bet," Mari replied. "You know, since I'm here for 4 more years at the least, I've been considering taking up the helmet at a fire station in Lissone." Mari was attending university in Milan, but had lived in a shared apartment in a suburb called Lissone only 15 minutes away. "I talked to some firefighters there, and though I'm not a full-fledged Italian citizen, they'll let me in anyway since I'm going to school here for so long and I'm only 3 minutes away. Is 600 calls per year on average busy? They don't run any ambulances unlike over in Japan."

"If they don't run EMS, that's not bad," Kanan replied. Station 151 itself did about 500 fire/rescue calls annually, in addition to over 1300 EMS calls per year. "We run about the same in terms on non-ambulance calls. Do you think you're up for it?"

"Of course," Mari confidently replied in English before switching back to Japanese. "Apparently, I just squeeze past the height requirement by 3 centimeters. It's odd they have one, really. As long as you're not a dwarf, you should be fine. I mean, You-chan falls 2 centimeters short, I guess, but she's a good firefighter, right?"

"Yeah," Kanan replied as she nodded, finding the height requirement odd. "I'm 165 centimeters, like you, and yet I could probably physically run circles around most of the guys you saw there. Then again, Europeans and Americans do tend to be taller in general compared to us Jaoanese, and just Asians in general, hence your height."

Mari laughed. "True, true. I guess we have to pull the race card out somewhere, huh?" The last remark made both of them burst into laughter.

* * *

 _ **June 10, 2019**_

After coming home from college classes, both You and Kanan arrived at the NCFA at around 5:45 PM to undergo the third class of Advanced Interior Volunteer Firefighting Operations. In the second class, the class of 20 students burned two cars and then did two structure fire evolutions. They were the only volunteers from Station 151 taking the class, with another volunteer from Station 154 also taking it. Tonight, they would do civilian search and rescue evolutions, first with only a fog machine, and then with live fire. To simulate trapped civilians, they would use dummies of various weights.

Kanan, You, the other volunteer from Station 154, and two volunteers from District 16 were grouped together, with You serving as the group officer for tonight, and Kanan having served as it the class before. As the 5 of them stood before the training tower, a 5-floor stone and metal building, they got ready, but did not mask up yet. They were to be the first to go inside. The first scenario involved a fire on the northern side, or Alpha side, of the third floor, with a victim reported trapped on the southern side, or Charlie side. They would mask up once they got to the second floor and were about to go to the third.

Kanan and the Station 154 volunteer both grabbed hose packs as You opened up the door to the first floor. She said to them, "Go right to the stairs. Once we get to the foot of the stairs to the second floor, stop and mask up." She was carrying with her a thermal imaging camera, and went in first with the two District 16 volunteers, one of whom had a halligan and the other an axe. As the three of them went in first, they looked around quickly before going to the staircase to the second floor, which was blocked off by a door. "Okay, Hiroshi-kun, try it."

Hiroshi, the younger of the two District 16 volunteers, aged 21, felt the door with his gloved hand for a split second before opening it with the turn of a knob. "Try before you pry."

"Exactly," You replied. "Let's go." The three of them quickly ran up the stairs to the second floor and then to the door to the third floor staircase. "Kazuo-kun, try it."

Kazuo, aged 24, tried to open the door to the third floor staircase, but it was locked. "We're gonna have to force it." He then shoved the fork end of the halligan bar into the crack between the door and the doorframe near the lock. "Get me a hose strap, Hiroshi-kun!"

"Got it," Hiroshi replied as he approached and use a small strap to tie around the knob to control the door once it was forced open. He then got his axe ready. "Tell me when to ram it."

"Ram it," Kazuo replied, resulting in Hiroshi ramming the end of the axe into the adze/pick end of the halligan, driving the fork into the door. "Ram it! Ram it! Ram it! Ram it!" After 5 ram-its, he followed up with, "Drive it." Hiroshi then gave repeated blows onto the halligan. "Stop!" As Hiroshi stopped, Kazuo foced the fork end in just a little bit more, and just like that, the door was forced open. "Mask up now?"

"Absolutely," You replied as she got down on both knees, took her helmet and gloves off, and put her mask on, having already turned her SCBA on. Kazuo and Hiroshi quickly did the same. As they finished, they heard Kanan and the Station 154 volunteer come up behind them before they stopped to do the same thing. Now that the first 3 were masked up, You said, "Let's hurry it up!"

The 3 of them then climbed to the third floor as the smoke entered in, growing thicker and thicker as they got to the top of the stairs. The door to the third floor was already open, and at the foot of the door was the "victim," a 175-pound dummy. Kazuo, at the front, shouted down, "The victim is right here!"

"Grab 'em," You replied as she aimed the TIC and then directed Kanan and the Station 154 volunteer. "The fire is down that hallway! Just watch yourself, since we just found the victim!"

"Got it," Kanan replied giving a thumbs-up, as she hooked the hose she had carried into a standpipe and then radioed, "Group 1 to the Training Engine, charge the Charlie standpipie!" She quickly got out of the way as Hiroshi and Kazuo carried the dummy down together. They would climb down a ladder to the second floor to bring it down, and then reenter through the same ladder to assist with firefighting operations.

As You aimed the TIC down the hallway, she could see the heat concentrated at the end. "Pencil the ceiling to cool it off!"

Kanan did so, opening up the nozzle. "Ichiro-kun, feed me more line!"

"Got it," Ichiro, a 30-year-old office worker, replied. The five of them were doing a great job so far, having found both the victim and the seat of the fire rather fast. The rest of the night would be filled with similar activities, and the five of them performed well at all of them.


	9. Crumpled

_**June 18, 2019**_

At 7 in the morning, just as Kanan woke up to get the day started with a workout since she had an off-day from college, the pager rang once more. As the firehouse siren roared to life, she raced out of her house and ran out to the street. As the sun rose in the sky, she raced to the firehouse as she saw another firefighter jump into his car and speed down to the same place past her.

Within two and a half minutes, she ran into the firehouse and quickly began to put on her gear. As she pulled her bunker pants up, You and Chika also both ran in. Chika's gear, as she was an auxiliary firefighter for the time being, consisted of two silver pull-up wader boots and a long coat, plus a helmet with green stripes. Chika said to Kanan as she got dressed, "I bet Ruby-chan's kicking herself right now over missing this."

"I bet," she replied as she raced to Rescue 151 with You. The call was for a car accident with Station 153 along the road next to the coastline, and from the description of the call over the pager, it did not sound good. Chika ran to the Ambulance, hopping in the back as an older auxiliary volunteer hopped in the driver's seat, with a paid firefighter up front. The other paid firefighter was driving the rescue, and a volunteer lieutenant was up front.

The lieutenant radioed, "Rescue 151 to Fire Alarm, can you tone out Station 63 for another ambulance to the scene?"

"10-4, we'll get them going."

"Thank you," he replied. "Rescue 151 is responding with a crew of 5, 1 medic, 2 EMTs." As they rolled out, Kanan grabbed her extrication gloves from her bunker pants and began to put them on, prompting You to do the same. The lieutenant turned around and said to the crew, "Okay, I want Kanan-kun to grab the spreaders, You-kun to grab the cutters, and Hiro-kun to start pulling out cribbing. I'll grab miscellaneous tools, and once we get the hydraulic motor started, I'll have Kiyoshi-san jump in as the medic in the car. We'll have Engine 153's crew either in the car if they got an EMT or pulling a line for fire suppression, and that new girl that was the third person on the ambulance will back any of us up during the extrication. Get her some experience on a tool."

Kanan gave a thumbs-up, replying back, "You got it, Lieutenant!"

Upon Rescue 151's arrival, they came up to a single car that had hit the guard rail between the road and the sea. The front end was completely crumpled, the glass was already smashed in most windows, and the driver looked to be unresponsive. As Kanan and You pulled out their respective tools, they both looked at the car with unease as a crowd gathered to watch. They then laid the cutters and spreaders out on the road as a volunteer began putting cribbing underneath the car to stabilize it. You ran up to him and said, "Hiro-kun, let me give you a hand with that!"

"Sure," he replied as he handed her two pieces of cribbing. "Go take care of the other side for me."

As You walked around the other side, she saw blood from the driver spattered all over the dashboard of the car. She paid no attention to it as she did her duty. Meanwhile, Chika and Kanan were both carrying the spreaders to the driver side door, ready to start moving in once the signal was given. The bluenette told her, "Chika-chan, if at any point you wanna tap out, give me a signal and I'll get You-chan or someone else to do it."

"I won't," she assured her.

Then, a firefighter gave her the signal. "Cribbing's ready!"

"Using Spreaders!" Chika then opened up on the spreaders, spreading open the car door. As the sound of crunching metal emanated through the scene, the door began to pop open. Once the door was opened wide enough, You wrapped a rope around it and pulled on it. Chika said to Kanan, "Time to get the cutters, right?"

"Yep," Kanan said as Chika put the spreaders down on a tarp nearby and picked the cutters up. Chika lodged the cutters into the mechanism that held the door to the body.

"Using Cutters!" The cutters began to tear through the mechanism as You kept her grip on the rope steady. It did not take long before the door itself fell of the hinges and onto the ground with a loud metallic bang. Chika set the cutters down on the tarp nearby as Kanan and You both went into the car and undid the seat belt on the driver as two more firefighters brought a stretcher over. The blood from the driver smeared onto their turnout coats as You grabbed a c-collar from an opened medical bag on the stretcher and applied it to the driver's neck.

Kanan said to You as she grabbed the orange backboard from the stretcher, "Ready to lift?"

"Yep," she replied as she carefully placed the driver's body on the backboard and adjusted it. She told the paramedic from the crew of two that brought the stretcher, "I can feel the driver breathing, but he's still out of it and bleeding pretty bad." She and Kanan then slid the backboard onto the stretcher.

Chika watched in curiosity as the paramedic firefighter began pulling an IV and some medicines from the medical bag to administer to the patient. She then looked over at Kanan and You and saw that their gear was stained in blood. "Need to get rinsed off?"

"Yeah," Kanan replied. "The rinsing hose is on Pumper 153 along with a bodily fluids basin on Rescue 151." The guidelines for washing turnout gear normally called for a rinsing on scene and then a wash back at the station. However, if gear got blood or other bodily fluids on it, it had to be rinsed with the firefighter(s) standing in a basin so the water could not run off, then taken off on scene, bagged, and then washed at the station, with the water from the rinsing being dumped into the sewer system.

* * *

Later in the day, You's cousin Tsuki stopped by at Station 151. A volunteer at Station 61 up to the north since 2018, she enjoyed a close relationship with her cousin. She had been interested in making a career out of firefighting, which would make her the first paid firefighter in the Watanabe family, and was enrolled in a college paramedic degree. As she and You studied together upstairs with a paid firefighter-paramedic, she mentioned to You, "You'll never guess who I ran into, You-chan."

"Who?" You was curious as she looked up from her textbook.

"Hachiro," Tsuki replied as she mentioned the name of You's ex-boyfriend from her first year of high school. "He was back in the area visiting family. He asked about you and wondered how you were doing."

You looked out a window, the hot sun beating down on her blue NCFD t-shirt as she sighed. "You know, looking back, it feels like we did kinda move too quickly."

"I was gonna say," Tsuki replied, noting how fast-paced their relationship was. "You guys were together like 8 months, and in that time you banged him in 6 of those months, right?"

"Yeah," You replied, blushing slightly. "I don't regret it, though. I do sometimes wish I could use some of the things I learned in bed again." The two then laughed. "In other news, did you hear they're finally going to be doing some expansion of the paramedic scope?"

"About God damn time," Tsuki groaned. "Why can't we administer more drugs like the firefighters in America? It's bullshit that we're restricted to only a few drugs unless we want to consult Medical Control every time we go on an EMS call." She was frustrated with the lack of skills Japanese paramedics were allowed to do without approval from a doctor compared to North America and Europe.

"Tell me about it," You replied in agreement. "Speaking of that, hopefully I'll be able to enroll in the next EMT class starting in September. Right now, we're enrolling Ruby-chan and Chika-chan in the summer boot camp for Auxiliary and Interior Volunteer Firefighter. I got an Advanced Volunteer Firefighter class tonight, actually." She then began filling out some paperwork.

"What's that?"

"More training stuff," You replied. "I'm basically gonna go all-out this year. I'm signing up for a couple PADI courses with Kanan-chan's family dive shop. My hope is that when 2020 rolls around, I can get on the Dive Rescue Team."

"That would be nice," Tsuki noted. "Unfortunately, we don't got any of that special stuff in District 6. Station 61 is just a normal firehouse."

* * *

 _ **June 20, 2019**_

You and Kanan watched firefighters from downtown Numazu fight a rather large fire at a warehouse across the street from their college during a break. As they continued to watch, You mentioned to Kanan as they saw two firefighters begin to set up a deck gun on the ground, "I bet my dad's here somewhere."

Sure enough, the man himself stepped forward from a crowd of firefighters and noticed her. "Huh? You! Over here!" He then waved her over. "Bring Kanan-kun, too!"

You waved to her father as she and Kanan walked over, stepping over several supply lines before she hugged her father. "Dad, how's it going?" She then brushed some soot off of her clothes.

"It was tiring, I'll tell you that," he replied as he wiped sweat off of his forehead. "I just came out of the warehouse about 5 minutes ago." He then pointed to the top of the warehouse as an aerial ladder truck began to set up a master stream operation. "We cut some holes in the roof for ventilation, but now we're gonna have to spray down into them since the fire's venting real good out of the holes." The scene around them was loud but not as chaotic as one would think. By now, firefighters had mostly switched to fighting the fire from the outside. "It was fucking hot in there, You."

"I can imagine," she replied as she looked around the building. "Are there even any windows on the building?"

"Only a few in the rear and on the first floor for the offices," her father replied. "I was only in there about 15 minutes before they pulled the plug on us."


	10. Delivery

_**June 22, 2019**_

Ambulance 151A pulled up to a house near the firehouse after being dispatched to a report of a woman in labor. You, Kanan, and a career firefighter-paramedic hopped out, with You pulling the stretcher and Kanan and the paramedic running up to the front door to open it. However, upon going to the door, they found it was locked.

You looked over and asked, "Is it locked?"

"Yep," Kanan replied as she ran over to a front window to peer in. Sure enough, she saw the woman in labor lying on the floor, looking at her with worry and concern in her face. "She's in here, Lieutenant!"

"Got it," replied the paid firefighter. "I'm gonna have to break the window on the door!" He then pulled a small hammer from his EMS gear coat and smashed the front window before reaching his gloved hand in to open the door from the inside. He then ran in as You and Kanan dragged the stretcher in, the wheels crushing the broken glass on the floor. "Hi, I'm Lieutenant Tousaka Kaito from the fire department. these are my partners, Volunteer Firefighter Watanabe You and Volunteer Firefighter Matsuura Kanan. What's the problem today, ma'am?"

"I'm in labor," she replied in between breaths. She was clearly heavily pregnant, and she was moaning. "The contractions are continuous."

"Alright then," Kaito replied. "It's probably the baby's head pressing on a nerve." He then turned to You. "You-kun, get on the radio with Juntendo University Shizuoka Hospital in Izunokuni." He then turned back to the woman. "What's your name? Does your husband know about this?"

"I'm Shion Ichigo. My husband, Ryou, is at work in downtown Numazu," she replied. "He'll be here in like 10 to 15 minutes." The woman then screamed from a particularly painful contraction.

"On it, Lieutenant," You replied as she opened up the radio kit and tuned in to the Ambulance-to-Hospital frequency used by Numazu and several other surrounding fire departments for communications with hospitals. She then punched in the DTMF code for the aforementioned hospital and called in, "Numazu Fire Ambulance 151-Alpha to Juntendo Shizuoka Base."

"Go ahead, Numazu Fire Ambulance 151-Alpha," a nurse replied.

"We have a precipitate delivery," You replied. "The patient's name is Shion Ichigo. Per dispatch, she is 27 years old. Stage 2 labor is under way, and labor in general is progressing normally, if not a bit fast. The baby is full-term, and no complications are expected or anticipated. This is her first delivery per dispatch. We will keep you updated as we progress."

"Received, Numazu Fire Ambulance 151-Alpha," the nurse replied.

Kanan sat across from Kaito and told the woman, "Okay, on the next contraction, I want you to take a deep breath and push as hard as you can." There was some, but not an excessive amount of, amniotic fluid on the floor down near the woman's crotch area as she pushed.

"Good, keep it up," Kaito encouraged her. "Keep pushing, and the baby will be out in no time. Do you know what gender it is already?"

"They said it'll be a boy," she replied between contractions.

"That's nice," Kaito replied in an attempt to keep the woman calm by making small talk with her. "I bet you and your husband can't wait to meet him."

Ichigo smiled as she began to cry slightly from the pain. "Yeah..."

* * *

Later that day, You and Kanan helped Ruby and Chika fill out paperwork for the Auxiliary/Interior Volunteer Firefighter Boot Camp over the summer in August. As Ruby signed off on the bottom, she said to You, "You-chan, I just need to get this to my parents, right?"

"Yep," You replied. "Since you're still in high school, you need your parents or guardians to sign off as well. Got any concerns they won't?"

"Not at all," Ruby replied. "But my sister may." The young girl looked down slightly. "Dia-oneechan is worried about me."

"Well that's what sisters do," Chika told Ruby. "Shima-oneechan and Mito-oneechan were a bit worried when I first started, but that's normal."

"I know," Ruby replied. "But at times it feels like Dia-oneechan still thinks I'm just like I was when I first started high school. I get it, I'm still a bit shy, but I'm not weak. I can handle getting yelled at by instructors."

"I know you can," You replied. "Me and Kanan did that to you and Chika-chan when you two did our stair climbs."

"You guys can yell loud," Chika noted humorously. "I guess that idol training paid off. Projecting your voice is a skill that's useful on and off stage."

* * *

 _ **June 24, 2019**_

Kanan and You rushed to the firehouse for a reported house fire in Station 155's area in the evening hours. Chika and Ruby were already at the firehouse, but had to wait since they were not yet interior volunteer firefighters. As they ran into the firehouse together, they heard the pagers ring again as a working fire was declared. They very quickly ripped their shoes off and jumped into their bunker pants. Within half a minute, both were fully dressed and ran to Aerial 151, jumping into the cab and grabbing two air packs to put on outside. Once they were fully set, they jumped back in the truck and took a seat. You shouted to up front, "We're ready!"

"Got it," replied Volunteer Lieutenant Yamada. Masako then radioed, "Aerial 151's responding with 5, all interior." She then remarked to herself as the ladder truck pulled out of the station, "This year keeps getting busier and busier." You and Kanan began to mask up in the back, while the paid firefighter and Masako did not.

Within 7 minutes of the initial dispatch, Aerial 151 arrived. By then, Pumper 155 was on scene, and its three interior firefighters were rolling out hoses for an interior attack. You and Kanan jumped out first, the former grabbing an axe plus a TIC and the latter assisting a firefighter from Pumper 155 with a roll of hose as the smoke began to bank down in front of the house due to the wind. "I'll force the door," You yelled to Kanan and the other firefighter. She then went to the front door and smashed the glass before reaching in and unlocking the door, opening it as smoke filled her vision, forcing her to stop and hook her mask into her pack and breathe pack air. She then aimed the TIC through the front door and yelled out, "Kanan-chan, you got heavy fire in the front hallway!" She then placed her axe in her belt to keep it on her.

Kanan and the other firefighter then marched in with their now-complete hand line as You went in ahead of them with the TIC going. "You-chan, do we need to pencil?!"

"Yeah," she replied back. "Is the backup line ready?"

"Yeah," replied the other firefighter behind Kanan on the line. He pointed to the fire ahead. "Kanan-kun, hit it!"

Kanan radioed out, "Pumper 155, charge the first line!" After receiving a short reply, they felt their hose line fill with water. Kanan immediately opened up with a few pencil hits to the ceiling before going in for the attack, knocking the fire down before her and filling the hallway with thick smoke, blinding them. "Is that backup line charged yet?!"

They then all heard the crew on the backup line ask for their line to get charged. The 155 firefighter replied, "Does that answer your question?!"

"Yep," Kanan replied with a chuckle as she and him advanced further into the building.

Meanwhile, beside them, You attached her TIC to her coat and pulled her axe out to force a door to a bedroom open as a volunteer firefighter from Pumper 154 joined her inside. After she forced the door open, she told the 154 firefighter, "We'll split up and meet in the middle." She then very quickly scanned the room with her still-attached TIC.

"Absolutely," he replied as the two of them began to search the room from the wall with their hand tools, with You going to the right and the paid firefighter going to the left.

"FIRE DEPARTMENT!" You yelled out to see if any possible victims could hear her as she searched. "HELLO?! FIRE DEPARTMENT! IF YOU CAN HEAR ME, CALL OUT!"

Suddenly, they both heard a scream come from a closet in the bedroom near You. The 154 firefighter yelled out, "The closet!"

You immediately tried the closet door knob, but it was locked. "Shit! Hey, whoever's in there, get the hell away from the door, okay?! I gotta break it down!" She then rammed into the door with her axe, forcing it open after a few hard hits. As soon as the door opened, she put her axe away in her belt and grabbed hold of a coughing young child that had hid in the closet. "Hey there! Everything's gonna be okay! Just stay with me!" She then radioed, "Search to Command, we got a victim in the first floor bedroom on the alpha-delta corner! We're bringing them out now!"

As she grabbed the child, she and the 154 firefighter raced out of the room and towards the front door, battling the still-thick smoke. As they ran out, the 154 firefighter yelled out, "WE GOT A VICTIM!"

You then placed the still-coughing child down on the ground as two firefighters raced over with a stretcher, including Chika, who asked You, "Was there even a report of victims?"

"No," You replied as she took her mask and helmet off. "There wasn't at all! This is why you still do a primary search regardless, Chika-chan!" She then took a deep breath and wiped sweat off her forehead as Chika and another firefighter rushed the child to a waiting ambulance. "Holy fuck..."


	11. Rumors

_**June 27, 2019**_

Ruby, Hanamaru, Riko, and Yoshiko all hung out at Yoshiko's place after school wrapped up. Alongside them was Yousuke, who was noticeably more quiet than usual, especially around Hanamaru. Riko pointed out to Ruby as she helped her with some math homework, "Okay, you'll need to carry the three next."

"Are you sure?" Ruby was struggling today, an odd occurrence for her.

"Absolutely," Riko replied. "Once you do that, you'll get your answer."

Hanamaru turned to Yousuke as they continued and asked him, "Hey, are you alright? You've been awful quiet, zura."

The third-year junior high schooler turned to her and replied, "Oh. It's nothing. Well..." He then whispered to her. "Nothing I want to talk to my sister about."

Hanamaru nodded and gave a thumbs up, assuring him that whatever it was, it would remain a secret. "That's okay."

Yoshiko then said to the group after reading a text, "Got some good news. Looks like Mari's definitely getting into that fire station near her school in Italy. Lissone I think it was?"

Ruby excitedly replied, "Mari-chan's gonna be a firefighter like me, too?! That's so cool!"

"She also told Kanan-chan that when she graduates and returns to Uchiura, she's signing up to join her here." Yoshiko was not interested in becoming a firefighter, but was still interested by the aspects of the job and the experiences. "I swear, we gotta hold like a party for her when she comes back. A wild one, too. We'll all be 20 when she comes back, so that will be good." (A/N: The legal drinking age in Japan, as well as the age of majority, is 20. However, a law was passed in real life that will lower it to 18 in 2022.)

"It'll be 18 by then, though," Riko noted. "They passed that law. Besides, I've already seen you drunk, Yoshiko-chan. You're super competitive when you are." She then chuckled before she gave her girlfriend a quick kiss on the cheek. "Love ya, babe."

Hanamaru then turned to a nearby clock and realized she stayed longer than anticipated. "Oh fuck, I lost track of time, zura." She then gathered her things. "Normally, one of you would come with me, but I understand if you can't leave just yet, zura. I can go alo-"

"I'll go," Yousuke surprisingly answered up. "I can catch a bus back here." He then turned to his older sister. "I'll be fine."

Yoshiko sighed and shrugged. "Fine, I'll allow it. Be home before dark, though. Mom won't be happy if you aren't."

"Thank you, sis," Yousuke replied as he and Hanamaru left together. As the door closed, Riko jokingly asked, "I think he has a crush on her."

Yoshiko's eyes immediately widened. "Oh dear God, no. That would be awkward."

"I mean," Ruby pointed out to Yoshiko. "He is a growing boy, and he's surrounded by slightly older girls, three of whom he saw naked." She emphasized the last part with annoyance in her voice to Yoshiko. "Yeah, thanks for that experience."

"It wasn't my fault," she retorted.

"Anyways," Ruby continued. "It's only natural for him to maybe think of stuff like..." She then blushed as she realized what she was beginning to imply. "Oh my... I... I..."

"If he saw you and Hanamaru-chan naked," Riko continued where Ruby had left off. "There's no doubt you're in his thoughts in dirty ways. Of course, Yoshiko-chan isn't, since that's just wrong, and besides..." She then wrapped an arm around her girlfriend. "Having sex with her is my job. I can make my fantasies a reality, and trust me, we do quite a bit." The two of them then laughed, as Riko's remark had eased the tension Yoshiko had.

All it did was make Ruby blush more. "Oh dear... How long...?"

"Since her birthday last year," Yoshiko replied. "I dragged her to a spot out in the mountains right after school ended and we went to town for about an hour without anyone ever finding us. Ever since, we've had it like... 2 or 3 times a week?"

"Yeah, about that," Riko replied. "Anyways, we digress. Yousuke-kun isn't in love with you or anything, even if you may be in his thoughts. If anything, I think he likes Hanamaru."

Yoshiko rolled her eyes. "That would just be fucking awkward. This is my little brother we're talking about. He's 14 right now. Hanamaru's three years older than him."

"My parents met at the same age," Riko noted. "They turned out fine. My dad was the older one in that case." She then shrugged. "Maybe it's just the familial relation that makes it weird for you."

* * *

Meanwhile, Yousuke remained quiet still as he escorted Hanamaru home. As the bus sped down the road towards Uchiura, Hanamaru stretched her back, pushing her chest out. Immediately, she saw Yousuke blush as he shot a quick glance at her and her chest before looking away. _"He's so cute when he gets flustered,"_ she thought to herself. _"That's gotta be why he isn't talking."_ "Hey," she said to him. "What was that thing that was bothering you back at your sister's place?"

The younger boy sighed. "I have a crush on a girl I know, but I'm afraid to tell her. Also, I don't think it would be good if we got together, though not because it's wrong." He then shook his head. "It's just that other people might think we're weird or something."

"I'm sorry about that," she replied. "Also, I'm sorry I brought it up, zura."

"You're fine," Yousuke quickly assured her. "Don't be sorry. Don't ever be sorry for asking me how I'm doing, Kunikida-san." He locked eyes with her as he said that, seemingly entranced by her.

 _"I knew it,"_ she thought to herself. _"I know just who he's referring to."_ She wrapped an arm around his shoulders as she told him, "Thanks, zura. You know, I've been trying to cut down on my usage of that word. You know, 'zura?' It's hard, but I've managed to almost stop using it in school."

"Why, though?" He replied somewhat nervously. _"Holy shit,"_ he thought to himself. _"She has officially wrapped an arm around me. Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck..."_ "I... I, uh... I think it's fine!"

"Thank you," she replied.

Then, the bus stopped at its next stop and emptied. As an older woman in her 80s with a cane got on as the only passenger to board, she saw the two of them and asked them, "Are you two a couple, by any chance?"

"Us?" Hanamaru pointed at herself and Yousuke. "Oh, no... We're not. He's my best friend's brother. He offered to help bring me home, zura." She then silently cursed herself for using that word.

"Ah," the old lady replied. "Sorry about that. You two just remind me of me and my husband when we first met." She then smiled.

 _"Husband? Wife? Marriage? Kids? Forever with her?! Wait, whaaaaa..."_ By now, Yousuke's mind was spinning with daydreams of marrying Hanamaru and having children with her, and he practically fainted into his seat.

Hanamaru noticed this and laughed. _"I'll have to wake him up when we get to my stop."_

* * *

At Hanamaru's family temple, Yousuke and her stood outside. "Thank you for being with me as I went home," Hanamaru told him. "That was kind of you."

"No problem," Yousuke, now calmed down, replied. "I still can't believe that old lady thought we were a couple." He then chuckled. "Can you believe that?"

"That was weird," she replied. To his surprise, however, she then drew him in and gave him a peck on his cheek. "You're a gentleman, you know that, right, zura?"

Immediately, the boy froze in shock as he tried to compose a response. "I, uh, well, I... Thank you?" He then composed himself and took a deep breath. "Kunikida-san, do you want to do something over the weekend together?!"

"Of course," she replied. "Why don't we?" She then pulled a notepad out of her book bag with a pen and wrote a number down. "Ever since I got a cellphone, it's made having friends so much easier." She then handed the paper to Yousuke. "Here's my cell number, zura. Text me whenever you want." She then walked inside, a wide smile on her face. _"Okay, Hanamaru, you've gotten this far! Get ready for the next step!"_

Yousuke was absolutely speechless as he looked over her house, his jaw to the ground as he blinked several times. _"Holy shit,"_ he thought to himself. _"It's happening!"_

* * *

 _ **June 28, 2019**_

As Kanan ran past Hanamaru's house for her early morning exercise, she saw her and stopped. "Hey, Hanamaru-chan!"

Hanamaru spotted her and waved as she walked towards her bus stop. "Kanan-chan! How's it going?!"

"Good," she replied as she took a few breaths. "Just exercising as usual. How about you?"

"Well, I must say," Hanamaru replied as she thought back to last night. "I may have an admirer, and he may be closer to us than you think, zura."

"An admirer?" Kanan easily could guess what she meant by that. "I see. Who do you think it is?"

"I cannot tell you," she playfully replied. "It's confidential, like Tommy Wiseau. Anyway, how's your sex life, zura?"

Kanan laughed loudly in response to the reference to The Room. "I mean, me and Toshiki-kun are still a thing, so there's that. Also, did you watch The Room again?"

"How did you know?" Hanamaru giggled. "YOU ARE TEARING ME APART, ZURA!"

"Oh hi Mark," Kanan replied with another quote. She then felt her pager vibrate and heard it ring for an EMS call. As the dispatcher gave the information of the call out, she said to Hanamaru, "Well, I gotta run to the firehouse. That's an odd emergency." She then sprinted in the opposite direction. "See you later, Hanamaru-chan!"

* * *

Several minutes later, Rescue 151 pulled up behind Ambulance 151A to an odd medical emergency: A man stuck in a full-body plaster cast inside a house. The two paid firefighters had taken the ambulance, while Kanan and two volunteers took the rescue. As Kanan walked in with a bag of tools, she saw that a woman was standing nearby as the paid firefighters examined the man in a messy room filled with paintings and sculptures. "The glue I used to mix with the plaster is water-soluble," she told them.

"That gives me an idea," the paid lieutenant replied as he grabbed an empty bucket. "Fill this with water and get me some towels." He then handed the bucket to the woman.

Inside the cast, the man shouted, "Get me the hell outta here!"

"We will, sir," the other paid firefighter replied. He then turned to Kanan. "Kanan-kun, get me some blades in that tool bag. Once we wet up the plaster, we can chip away at it."

"On it," she replied as she opened the tool bag and pulled two knives out. She then handed one knife to the paid lieutenant and kept one for herself as the woman returned with towels and a filled bucket.

"Excellent," the paid lieutenant replied as he soaked the towels with water and put them all over the cast. Once he was done, Kanan took the excess water in the bucket and dumped it over the man's head mold. "And now, we wait for a very short while."

"I hope it's not too long," the man inside the cast replied.

"We were just doing molds," the woman told them, both deeply concerned for her boyfriend and extremely frustrated at herself. "And I tried getting him out for an hour, but I couldn't. That's when I called you guys. I used too much glue, damn it!"

"He'll be okay," Kanan assured the woman. "He just needs to get out."

The man inside the cast asked, "You're Matsuura Kanan, right? Holy shit, I had no idea!"

"You're right," she replied as she smiled. "The one and only."

"Can you sign part of my cast after you get the towels off?" The odd request made Kanan's eyebrows raise. "Sorry if it's weird. I just figured it would be most convenient. I love idol music!"

"You certainly got good taste then," she replied as she and the paid firefighters began to remove the towels. Once all the towels were gone, she grabbed a Sharpie marker from a nearby desk and quickly signed her name on the chest part of the man's cast. "I signed your chest area. We'll cut around it."

"Thank you," he replied as the paid lieutenant began to cut off the cast from the neck up. Kanan used her knife to cut around the chest to get the autographed part of the cast off. Within about a minute, the entire cast was off, and Kanan carefully placed the part with her autograph under a sun lamp to dry it and preserve it.

"Sir," the paid lieutenant asked him. "Do you need to go to the hospital?"

"No, I'm fine." He quickly grabbed a wet towel and began to wipe his skin and underwear with it to get rid of any plaster left on him.

"Alright," the paid lieutenant replied as he grabbed a form from his medical bag. "Just read this Refusal of Medical Attention form, sign it, and you'll be all set."

As the man signed the form, his girlfriend said to Kanan, "Thank you for doing that. He's a huge fan of you guys. He's been to several of your lives, and in fact we met at one."

"Awww," Kanan replied, glad to see that her work brought people together. "That's so sweet."


	12. Safe

_**July 1, 2019**_

"The official dates for the boot camp are July 22 through August 7," Kanan told Chika and Ruby as she showed them the schedule. "You need to be at every class to pass. This isn't going to interfere, right?"

"Not at all," Ruby assured her. "I'll be fine in that regard."

"Same here," Chika replied.

"Now, Ruby-chan," Kanan explained to her. "Even though you'll take this class, you still won't be allowed to go interior until you graduate high school. However, you will have no restrictions on SCBA usage in outside or training activities."

"That's fine," Ruby assured her. "I can wait." She then signed a training agreement that Kanan had handed out to her.

Then, they both heard a familiar male voice behind them. "Hello? Me and my wife would like to turn in applications?" Immediately, all three recognized the voice as belonging to Kanan's father.

Kanan herself was shocked to hear them not only come around, but reapply to the fire department after many years away from it. "Mom? Dad?"

"Kanan, is that you?" Her mom walked to the gear locker area behind the trucks and saw the three of them at a table. "Well, well, it is you!" She then handed her her application. "I filled everything out."

As her dad came along and handed his application to a shocked Kanan, the paid lieutenant on duty came downstairs from the fire pole upstairs. He immediately recognized both of Kanan's parents. "Matsuura-san! It's been a long time since you've came around here."

"It has," he replied as he shook his hand. "Me and the wife figured we get back in."

"Perfect timing," he replied. "Word from the grapevine says that the city wants to promote senior volunteer officers or ex-officers to two new positions in each district: Assistant District Commanders. They say they want to have volunteers be commanders to fill in gaps when the regular District Commanders are out on other calls. Since you and your wife used to be Lieutenants, you guys should put in for it."

Kanan's father laughed. "Yeah, sure, and I'll be the next prime minister!"

His wife, however, seemed more interested in the offer. "Assistant DC, huh? Would they accept us if we apply for it soon after we come back?" She thought to herself, _"It would be hilarious if we both got it, but I don't know if my husband would want it."_

As they continued their conversation, Kanan cringed at the thought of her parents being district commanders. _"That's gonna be weird as hell. It's just... Odd."_ She then turned to You, "How would you feel about either of them becoming DCs?"

"I'd like it," You replied to Kanan's dismay. "They seem like they both know what they're doing. What? Are you weirded out by it?"

Kanan nodded. "Yeeeeep."

 **...**

In Lissone, Italy, Mari had just begun her first day as a volunteer firefighter in the town with a drill that night. She would go to a summer boot camp similar to the one in Numazu, but longer, lasting from July 15 to August 16 and being 150 hours.

A fire technical officer of the brigade showed her her gear in her newly-assigned locker as he explained to her, "You'll be allowed to ride, but you won't be able to serve in anything more than a support role until you complete your training. Even so, you'll still be expected to pull your weight."

"I completely understand," Mari replied as she looked over her gear. "Want me to try it on?"

"Sure thing," he replied, crossing his arms as Mari kicked her shoes off and began to put her gear on. Once she was all done, he told her, "Don't worry about how fast it took. We'll get you to speed it up for the boot camp."

Mari then reached into her locker and pulled her phone out, handing it to her FTO. "Do you mind taking a picture of me?"

"Absolutely," he replied as he pulled up the camera app on her phone and snapped a picture of the blonde in her turnout gear. "Facebook or something?"

"Maybe," she replied with a chuckle. "Just maybe."

 **...**

 _ **July 2, 2019**_

Ambulance 151A pulled up to a call with a paid firefighter, Ruby, and Kanan as a driver. She had just been cleared to drive the ambulances that day. The call was at a house with a wood shop in the back, and the call was for a 42-year-old male who had been injured by a table saw. As the three of them stepped out and carried in a stretcher with equipment, the man's wife directed them, clearly worried about her husband. "His... His whole fucking hand is gone!" She had clearly been crying before they had arrived, given how reddened her eyes were. She then clung to Kanan. "Please, help him! I'm begging you!"

"Ma'am," Kanan assured her as she gently pushed her away. "Calm down. I understand you're very concerned. I would be, too. We'll take care of him, okay? Just let us do our job." The four of them then made their way to the wood shop in the back. Inside, a man sat in a chair, looking at what was now his right arm stump as it bled profusely onto the floor below. On the table where the table saw was attached was his fully-amputated right arm. He clearly was in shock, both physically and in terms of how he felt, and the fact that his right arm had been fully amputated had still not completely set in to him. Kanan quietly whispered to herself, "Holy shit."

As the paid firefighter began his primary assessment of the still-conscious patient, Ruby was clearly disturbed by the sight of the amputated arm. "Kanan-chan, uh..."

"You'll be fine," Kanan assured her as she pulled out two bags and two ice packs. "Grab his arm and put in this bag." She then handed her a bag and motioned for her to do it.

Uneasily, Ruby walked over to the arm, which was bleeding from the stump, and picked it up with her left hand, carefully placing it in the bag Kanan had given her as she looked away, closing her eyes as well. She then zipped it up and rushed it over to Kanan, clearly not wanting to hold it any longer and very uneasy at the sight of the arm. "It's still bleeding."

"I know," Kanan replied as she put the arm bag in a second bag with two ice packs. "I'll hold the arm bag until we get to the hospital. Go see if Lieutenant Inami needs help."

They both heard the patient tell the two of them, "My daughter loved you guys, by the way. Aqours, right?"

"Yeah," Kanan replied, flattered. "Glad to hear that, sir."

 **...**

Later that night, around 10PM, Hanamaru laughed as she and Yousuke entered the Tsushima apartment, having left the party a little early. "That's funny! I can't believe your sister Yoshiko-chan would actually do that!"

"Yeah," he replied as he began to blush. He thought to himself, _"It's just me and her in the apartment right now..."_ He then said to her, "Hey, Kunikida-san, do you want anything?"

"I'm good," the brunette replied as she began to look over Yousuke. "Say, why do you seem so tense?"

"Tense?" He quickly realized that she could see that he was blushing. "Why do you think I'm tense?"

"Your face is pretty red, and you are a bit less talkative than before, zura." She then stopped herself. "Ugh, I was on a roll today until I said zura right now. I've been trying to cut down on it, but it still slips out."

Yousuke quickly stammered out, "No don't do that it's cute- aaaand I just said that out loud didn't I?" His face reddened even more. _"Oh no..."_

Hanamaru just giggled and replied, "You think it's cute?" She then laughed. "That's the first time someone has called it that, actually. That's actually pretty nice of you." She thought to herself, _"It's so cute seeing him get flustered like that, in fact. You know, he is pretty good looking for someone that's 3 years younger than me."_

"The thing is," Yousuke replied. "Well... Uhhh... I do think... You see, when Yoshiko-oneesan first introduced me to you guys back when Aqours was still together, my first thought was basically 'wow my big sister has a bunch of friends that are cute high school girls.'"

Hanamaru laughed and replied to him, "So, who do you think is the cutest?"

"Uhh," Yousuke stammered out. _"It's actually Kunikida-san that is,"_ he thought to himself. _"But I can't tell her that."_ "Well," he said to her. "Are you sure you wanna hear? I don't want you to feel bad."

"It's fine," Hanamaru told him. "Trust me, zura."

"Eheheh," Yousuke nervously laughed. "Well, uhh, I guess..." He then closed his eyes as he gathered the courage to confess. "I can't hide it! It's you! Kunikida-san, you've always been the cutest to me!"

Hanamaru stepped back in surprise. "Me? I... Huh... You know, I thought you would say like Kanan-chan or Ruby-chan, zura, but I guess not." She then smiled. _"Awwwwww... I guess that's why he said he liked it when I said "zura." I'm glad he's honest."_

"You're not embarrassed?"

"Of course not," Hanamaru told him. "You're a young man. You're feeling things that make you attracted to other people, you know? I'm still going through it, though I am almost at the end." She then smiled. _"This is my chance."_

Yousuke then said to her, "I mean, yeah, I know about that. I'm not stupid." He then blushed. "Say, Kunikida-san, have you ever had a boyfriend?"

She then laughed again. "Ah, no. I was always busy with Aqours or reading to focus on that. Say, why do you ask? By the way, just call me Hanamaru, okay, zura?" In her head, she thought, _"That will change tonight..."_

"Uh, okay..." Yousuke then took a step back as he began to think to himself about what to do next. "Well, have you ever had feelings for someone else?"

"Of course," Hanamaru replied as she moved in closer to him. "He's a bit younger than me, but is pretty good-looking, and he's always been very nice to me ever since we met, zura." She then leaned in to his face and whispered quietly to him. "And he's sooo cute when he's flustered."

"Would that happen to be me by any chance?" The young teenager was then interrupted when Hanamaru suddenly closed her eyes and pressed her lips against his for a kiss. As he attempted to return it, he messed up, causing Hanamaru to giggle as he stood embarrassed.

"It's fine, Yousuke-kun. I'm glad I didn't mess up my first kiss, zura. After all, this was my first too." She then wrapped her arms around him. "Now, If you wanna stop at any time, just tell me and I will, okay? I don't wanna do anything that makes you feel uncomfortable." She thought to herself, _"Should I be doing this? I mean... He is a third year in junior high while I'm a third year in senior high... No, it's fine. If he says no, I'll stop now. If he says yes, we're gonna keep going. We are still both teenagers, after all. We can do this."_

"Yeah," he replied as he wrapped his arms around her. "I know. Hanamaru-chan, I want this, too." He then pressed his lips against hers as they embraced. As the two continued to kiss, they opened their mouths and began to French kiss. They continued to kiss for another couple seconds of bliss before they split.

"So," she told him as she smiled. "Why don't we take things up a notch, zura?" She then took both of his hands. "C'mon, you've wanted to feel up a girl for a while now, right? Why not feel up an older one like me?" She then placed both of his hands on her chest. As her face reddened, she thought to herself, _"Aaah... His hands are so soft... I want him so badly."_

As he felt her chest, he blushed even more as his heart raced. "Uhh... Are you sure you want me to do this?"

"Oh, I want you to do more than that, if you want to, of course." She then reached a hand down toward him and felt his crotch area. "A looooot more, zura."

 **...**

Ruby, still feeling uneasy after the previous medical call, decided to text Hanamaru around 11 that night, wanting someone to talk to and vent. She texted her, "Maru-chan, I was bothered by a call. Can I talk to you?"

She got a text back with, "I need to say something, too, but go ahead first."

Ruby, confused, asked herself, "Huh?" She then texted back, "This guy got his arm chopped off by a table saw, and I had to get his arm. It didn't feel right. Kanan-chan talked to me afterwards about it, but it's still not sitting with me well."

"You-chan and Kanan-chan would be glad to help you out," she texted back. "Glad to hear Kanan already did. Anyway, there's something you need to know about Yousuke."

"What's up?" The text Ruby received back made her gasp in shock and drop the phone onto her bed.

"I had sex with him," was Hanamaru's text. "Do not tell Yoshiko-chan at all. She cannot know."

Ruby said to himself in shock as she blushed, "Hanamaru-chan had... She had sex with..."


	13. Mature

_**July 5, 2019**_

"How big is that fire in District 6?" Kanan and You both ran into the firehouse at the same time as they saw both of the paid firefighters get ready and board Rescue 151 in the middle of the day.

"Pretty fucking big," You replied as she quickly donned her gear. "I was recording the audio at home. It came in as a gas explosion at a restaurant!" Once both were ready, they ran to the rescue along with Volunteer Lieutenant Yamada Masako to grab the SCBA from the cab and put them on. As they then climbed aboard the rescue, Chika watched from the sidelines, not allowed to go since she wasn't interior or a driver yet. You waved to her and told her, "See ya later, Chika-chan!"

The rescue then pulled out of the station. Masako called en route with, "Rescue 151's en route with 5, all interior." She then turned around to the three-man crew behind her. "Alright, we're going right to staging to back up Rescue 61! They're currently searching the buildings around the restaurant to look for survivors! They're gonna need help with clearing the rubble, so get the collapse tools and shoring!"

You, Kanan, and the paid firefighter with them all understood their mission. Kanan turned to the paid firefighter and told him, "I'll grab the cribbing. What do you wanna grab?"

"The RIT pack and some hand tools," he replied. "You-kun, grab all the spare cylinders and bring them to the SCBA cylinder area."

...

Later on, on scene, You and Kanan stood by in the staging area, fully geared up and ready to go if necessary. The scene was utter chaos as half of the restaurant had collapsed as a result of the explosion, which had caught a building next door on fire as well, and the other half still had people trapped inside and heavy fire throughout, nearly 26 minutes after the first units had been dispatched. As they stood, a familiar face walked over to the, clearly tired out as she took her helmet off and revealed her jet black hair. "Hey girls, I'm gonna need another bottle." She then pointed to her air pack on her back, indicating it was almost empty as sweat poured down her face.

"I got it," You replied as she grabbed a spare air bottle from the ground behind her and then walled over to her. "Tsuki-chan, is your pack off?"

"Yeah," she replied as she wiped sweat off of her face with her gloved hand, smearing some soot and ash on it. "How fucking hot is it?"

"Kanan-chan said it was like 36 Celsius," You replied as she took out Tsuki's old bottle and slid her new bottle in. "What's the situation so far?"

"I was on an attack line for the first engine out," she replied as she looked over the fire scene. "I'm going back in right away to search for more survivors." You then turned her air pack on again and patted her bottle to give the okay signal. "Thanks, man."

"Go get 'em," You replied as Tsuki ran back over to the front of the building to join a search team. As she did, You turned to Kanan and noted to her, "She looked pretty tired out already."

"Yeah," she replied, somewhat concerned by it. "Are you sure she should have gone in for a second round?"

"She'll be fine," You assured her. As she looked around, she tried to pass the time by thinking of the sights around her. _"Tsuki-chan mentioned this restaurant before. She said it was really good. It must suck having to see it in ruins."_

A few minutes later, as You and Kanan drank from bottles of water to cool themselves down, they both heard a frantic message go over the radio. "Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!"

"What the fuck?" Kanan was in disbelief at first, but then quickly snapped out of it as she realized what had to be done. "You-chan, get ready." She then turned her air pack on and took her helmet off to begin putting her mask on.

"On it," You replied as she began to do the same as more information came in about the situation. Then, just as they mentioned the downed firefighter's name and You put her mask on, she froze. "Wait, that's... Oh my God, it's Tsuki!" Both she and Kanan looked at each other in shock, the latter picking up hand tools for entry and search.

Masako yelled over to them, "Let's go, ladies! You two are going in to find and rescue Firefighter Watanabe! She's on the second floor!"

"On it," You replied as she finished up and ran over, Kanan following close behind her. You tried to keep herself calm, but deep down inside, she was panicking over her cousin. When the two rounded two corners and reached the rear of the restaurant, several firefighters pointed towards the entrance and directed them straight into the heavy smoke that still filled what left of the restaurant.

"She had just carried a victim out," one firefighter who was tired out told them as he knelt on the ground and pointed. "She went back in, and then her partner reported she had collapsed!"

Inside, Kanan and You quickly went up the stairs, You carrying a Pack-Tracker and a halligan bar and Kanan carrying an axe. The Pack-Tracker beeped loudly, and had a light that glowed in greater intensity as one got closer to a downed firefighter's air pack. As the two reached the foot of the stairs, the smoke blinded them, forcing them to have to crawl in the oppressive heat. "What's the tracker say, You-chan?!"

"We're getting close," she replied with slight relief. She then shouted, "CAN ANYONE HEAR US?! TSUKI-CHAN!"

Then, Tsuki's partner shouted back to the relief of both Kanan and You, "HERE!"

The two looked at each other and nodded. "Let's go get them," Kanan affirmed. The two them began to high-tail it down the hallway on their hands and knees. As they approached the last room, they entered it, and what they found made You gasp in horror.

Tsuki was passed out, and her partner had managed to drag her to a window in the hopes that a ladder could be raised to her. "She's not waking up!" He clearly was panicking and deeply concerned for her, and his low-air Alarm was now going off as a result of consuming more air from hyperventilating.

"Don't panic," Kanan tried to assure him. "We'll get you both out! You'll be fine!"

You rolled Tsuki over and looked through her mask. Her eyes were closed, and her breaths were more shallow than normal. "Fucking hell, Tsuki-chan, wake up!" She shook her a few times, but to no avail. "Kanan-chan, Shinji-kun, we're going to pick her up and take her out, okay?!"

"On it," Shinji replied as he held her head. "You guys got the legs, right?"

"Yeah," Kanan replied as she slid her axe into her ladder belt. "On the count of three, lift. One, two, three!" All three of them then picked Tsuki up together and began to carry her out, crawling out of the room and down the hallway once more. Kanan radioed out, "Rescue 15 to Command, we have Firefighter Watanabe and Firefighter Hayate with us! We'll be coming out shortly!"

As they carefully but quickly moved Tsuki down the stairs, Shinji could feel the mask begin to suck onto his face as his air began to run out. "Fuck, my mask is sticking!" He feared that he'd be out of air before they reached the end.

"Hold your breath," You commanded him. "You need to hold your breath, Shinji-kun! We're almost there!" As the three continued, she prayed they would get outside in time as the smoke continued to surround them. Finally, just as Shinji totally ran out of air, the three emerged from the smoke outside.

Immediately, several firefighters rushed to their aid as Shinji ripped his helmet and mask off. He then collapsed to his hands and knees as he opened his mouth up and profusely vomited on the pavement. After Kanan and You handed Tsuki off to an ambulance crew and took their masks and helmets off, they ran to Shinji, an older volunteer about 50 years of age with many years on the job. As they did, he sat up on his knees and then collapsed to the ground in exhaustion. "I... I'm..."

Kanan immediately began to rip his gear off of him as You took a bottle of water from another volunteer firefighter and poured it over Shinji's face to cool him down. "The heat and the smoke got to him," You told Kanan as another firefighter rushed to his aid. She then yelled out, "I NEED A FIREMAN THAT'S A PARAMEDIC HERE!"

"Shinji-kun," Kanan asked him. "Hey, can you hear me?!" Shinji looked over and attempted to vocalize something, but was unable to say any words. "Fuck, he's really out of it. Carrying Tsuki-chan down must have done a number on him."

...

Later that day after school, at Yoshiko's family's apartment, Hanamaru and Yousuke had just finished up another round of sex in his bedroom while Yoshiko was out on a date with Riko. They still had not told anyone aside from Ruby about their relationship. As the two young lovers laid in bed in the nude, thinking about the day and each other, they talked about what to do for the future. "We can't hide us forever," Hanamaru noted to him. "Eventually, she's gonna find out."

"I'm afraid of that," Yousuke replied. "I really am. But... I don't want to lose you, Hanamaru-chan." He then gave her a kiss on her cheek. "Whatever happens, I need to stay with you."

Suddenly, they heard the door open. Both looked at each other in panic before they rushed out of the bed and began to hurriedly throw on clothes. Yoshiko called out from the front room, "Hello? Yousuke-kun? Anyone?"

"In a minute," Yousuke called from his room. As he finished getting dressed ion his school uniform sans his coat, he whispered to Hanamaru, "When I get out, stay here for a few seconds and then quietly sneak out. Say you were in the bathroom or something."

"Got it," Hanamaru replied as she finished putting on her uniform. She then ran into a closet as Yousuke walked out of his bedroom and into the front living room.

Yoshiko turned around and waved to her brother. "Hey there."

"Hi, oneechan," he replied. "Hanamaru-chan's here, too. She's in the bathroom right now."

"Ah," she replied as she put her backpack away on a couch. "Anyway, how was school?"

"Pretty good," he replied, trying to get her to look away from his room so Hanamaru could sneak out. "Anyway, uh, can you get me an apple from the kitchen?"

"Sure," Yoshiko replied, somewhat confused as to why he could not get it himself but complying with the request anyway as she got up. Yousuke breathed a quick sigh of relief as she grabbed an apple from the refrigerator, giving Hanamaru enough time to position herself near the bathroom.

...

In You and Chika's apartment around the same time, Chika came back from her family home and noticed the door to her bedroom was closed. You had returned an hour earlier from the hospital where Tsuki had been. The fact the door was closed was odd, but what was even odder was when she tried to open it, only to find it locked. "Huh?" She then knocked. "You-chan?"

"Shit," replied her voice. "Uh, hold on, Chika-chan!" Chika then heard shuffling inside the room before she heard the door unlock. As You opened it, Chika saw that she was wearing a towel around her waist but had no top on. "Hey, Chika..."

"Uhhhh," Chika replied, confused. "Why are you-?" She very quickly got her answer when You's ex-boyfriend appeared next to her, wearing only underwear. "Ahhh... Hachirou-kun, it's been a while."

"Hey, Takami-san," he replied. "Me and You-chan were catching up. I was in the area and she wanted someone to talk to about the whole situation with her cousin."

"I see it progressed to more than just talk," Chika humorously noted, earning the laughter of the couple. "Hey, um, when you two are done, I need to speak to You-chan in private about something."

"I can step out now," Hachirou replied. "I'll wait outside." He then turned around to gather his clothes. After he got dressed, he walked back up to You and gave her a quick peck on the lips. "I'll be in the living room, You-chan!"

"Got it," she replied. She then turned around as Chika walked in and closed the door, locking it as well to ensure maximum privacy. "Chika-chan, is it about me and him?"

"No," Chika shook her head. "It's about me and Riko-chan."

You was deeply confused as she began to get dressed. "Huh? What about Riko-chan?"

"I've kept this a secret for two years," Chika began as she sat down on her bed. "But I can't anymore." She then shook her head to herself. "You-chan... I'm... I'm not a virgin."

You looked at her in surprise. "You're not? Who's the lucky guy who got to be your first?" She then began to take a sip of water from a bottle, cooling down from sex.

"It wasn't a boy," Chika replied. "It was Riko."

Immediately, You spit out her water, making it fly onto a wall next to her. "Wait, what the fuck? You banged Riko-chan?! When, where, how hard, and why?"

Chika intensely blushed in response to her rather explicit questions. "Well, uh, it happened exactly two years ago, and we... We did it on the beach in the middle of the night."

"We were all camping at your inn," You noted as she recalled July 5 in 2017. "Did you two sneak out?"

"Yeah," Chika replied. "We were just supposed to take a walk, but one thing led to another, she told me she loved me, and after that, something within me just told me to drag her in for a kiss." She then sighed. "We fell onto the beach below, and for the... For the next three hours, she taught me how to make love." Chika was clearly embarrassed by it, her cheeks reddened.

You was in disbelief. "Three whole hours?! Jesus Christ, that's long!"

"Yeah," Chika replied with a nervous laugh. "I guess when you're both girls, you can go for a long time. Anyway, we woke up early on the beach and ran back to our room before anyone else woke up. We swore to never tell a soul about it because we didn't know how you or Yoshiko-chan would react. Remember, that was during the time where you were questioning our friendship, and Riko-chan could tell Yoshiko-chan was developing a crush on her. We didn't want to hurt either of you, and we decided to just be friends after that night."

You nodded, understanding their reasoning and concerns. "I understand. Does Yoshiko-chan know?"

"No," Chika shook her head affirmatively. "And she hopefully never will. The last thing either of us want is a breakup."

"I see," You replied to her as she finished getting dressed. "She shouldn't find out, especially now. With what happened to Tsuki-chan, the last thing my mental health needs is a fight within Aqours, even if we're not actually an active idol group anymore." She then sighed and shook her head as she became more sullen. "Tsuki-chan may have to stop being interior if it's a medical issue, which means she can't be a paid firefighter or a paramedic. This fucking sucks. Who's to say it won't happen again? If it does, she may not be so lucky that time." She then wiped her eyes of tears. "My dad has been to two firefighter funerals, one in '06 for a volunteer captain that used to be the fire chief of Heda Village before Numazu annexed it, and another when he was in the JMSDF for a buddy of his who got killed in a ship fire he fought. Two is enough for him, and zero is enough for me."


	14. Truth

_**July 7, 2019**_

"... It was not a heart condition or anything," a doctor explained to Tsuki at the hospital in her room. "You just overexerted yourself, and I can see how and why. Watanabe Tsuki, you'll be able to return to firefighting starting tomorrow. Once you're ready to discharge, just see me."

"Thank you," Tsuki replied, grateful to him. As he left the room, she immediately grabbed her phone and began texting You to tell her the news. "Good news its not a heart condition"

Almost immediately, You shot her back a text, excitedly reading, "THANK GOD! i was so worried"

"same here," Tsuki texted back. "starting tomorrow ill be back to the old grind" She then sighed and said to herself, "Looks like I'll need to do even more workouts now."

"thats always good," You texted back to her.

...

Around 7:30 that evening, Pumper 151 pulled up to a fully-involved vehicle fire along the main avenue in Uchiura. On the first truck out were the two paid firefighters, You, and two other volunteers, with Kanan just barely missing the truck. Except for the volunteer driver, everyone jumped off the truck with their masks and air packs on, ready to go to work immediately. A paid firefighter and You grabbed two rolls of hose each and rolled them out, with the paid firefighter then grabbing a nozzle and then running to one end of a rose he rolled out to hook it up. He yelled to You, "I'll hook the lengths up! You go hook it up to the truck!"

"Yeah," You replied as she hooked a length of hose to the pump and then clipped her mask into air. It did not take long for the paid firefighter to clip into air and connect the other lengths together to create one much longer length of hose to work with. "I'll get behind you!" You then backed him up as she turned around and yelled to the driver, "GET ME WATER!"

The two then advanced onto the burning car as the line charged with water. Soon after, the paid firefighter bled some air out of the line and then began knocking the fire down. In half a minute, the fire was fully knocked down, and the other hose line assembled began to spray down the smoke as the driver began drafting water from a hydrant nearby with hard suction hose. You asked the paid firefighter, "Do you need more line?!"

"I should be good," he replied as he stood back and let the other line take over, shutting it down. "We can go grab some hand tools and start getting access to the engine compartment!" The two then dropped their line on the ground and walked over to Pumper 151 to grab a rotary saw and an axe. As the paid firefighter grabbed the axe, You grabbed a large portable rotary saw and revved it up, testing it before walking towards the car's burned-up engine compartment.

"Time to rip this fucker apart!" You then revved the saw up and sunk it into the metal engine hood, sending sparks flying all over as the blade sunk deeper and made a straight cut in a corner of the hood. Once she was done, she walked around the car to do the same to the other side. The loud saw pierced the noises otherwise generated by firefighting efforts. Once she was done, the paid firefighter used his axe to prop open the hood and then tossed it to the side. The other crew then sprayed down the engine, which was still on fire.

It had been only about five minutes since they had arrived, and yet the fire was now essentially out. The paid firefighter pointed to You and said, "You-kun, you can take your mask off. We'll be all set. No need for air here."

"Yeah," You replied as she unclipped her mask's regulator and took her helmet and mask off. After doing so, she took her gloves off and wiped her forehead of sweat, her ash gray hair being freed from her helmet and mask. "How hot is it out?"

The paid lieutenant, who was on the other line and still on air, told her, "It's like 35 Celsius!"

"Shit," You replied as she put her gloves and helmet back on, but without her mask. The heat was intense from both the fire and from the hot summer day, and it made firefighting moreso difficult than it already was for the crew.

...

At her home around the same time, Hanamaru had an interesting idea as she checked herself out in her bathroom wearing her school uniform. Yousuke was coming over, and she wanted to send him something over her phone to him. As she smiled, she tested her phone by taking a picture of herself with the mirror. "Alrighty, zura. That looks about right." She then deleted the picture. "He'll enjoy this little present."

As she pulled up her uniform shirt to reveal her bra, she smiled as she used her other hand to take a photo with the mirror. The incredibly racy picture was clearly intended for her boyfriend. As she pulled her shirt back down, she typed up as a caption, 'It really is the future! I will see you soon, love!' She then hit send and put her phone away, not thinking twice of what she had sent to Yousuke.

"He'll enjoy this present," she happily told herself. "In more ways than one, of course, zura."

...

Around 10 PM, as Yousuke and Hanamaru relaxed in her bed together, their post-sex conversation was interrupted by a phone call on Yousuke's phone. Hanamaru turned to it on her desk nearby and grabbed it. "Huh... It's your sister?"

"Hold on," he replied as he answered it. "Hello, onee-chan?"

"You need to come home immediately," Yoshiko rather angrily told him. "And put Hanamaru on the phone, now." Her tone was completely unlike her before, and Yousuke was worried.

"It's for you," Yousuke reluctantly told his girlfriend as he handed the phone to her. "She knows I'm here."

Hanamaru sighed and took it, wondering what was going on. "Yoshiko-chan, how's it going, zur-?"

"Don't fucking give me that 'how's it going, zura' shit," Yoshiko very angrily told her as Hanamaru stood from bed, not caring she was nude. "You sent that picture to me and my brother, and I put everything together, bitch."

Hanamaru paused in shock as the full force of what Yoshiko had just dropped on her hit her. "Picture?! What?!"

"Stop playing dumb," Yoshiko replied with a rage-filled yell. "You fucking succubus! You whore! My younger brother, of all people! God fucking damn it, Hanamaru! How could you?! Now, give the phone to my brother."

Hanamaru was left in shock, quietly handing the phone back to her equally-shocked boyfriend, who was worried based on her reaction, but could not hear the conversation. "Onee-chan?"

"You fucking pervert," Yoshiko chastised him harshly. "Fucking my best friend of all people! Damn it, how could you two?! How?!" She then abruptly hung up the phone, leaving a shocked Yousuke to drop it on the bed as Hanamaru began to cry.

He immediately stood up and tried to approach her, telling her, "Hanamaru, dear, are yo-?"

"Don't fucking touch me," Hanamaru pushed him away rather violently as tears flowed down her face. "Damn it, I need to be alone for a second, Yousuke! Can't you see that, zura?! My best friend just fucking called me a whore for being with who I love! How the hell do you process that, huh?!" Her rage was mixed with her incredible sadness. "I lost my best friend..." Yousuke could not even begin to process her words, not even attempting to offer a rebuttal as he just paused, tears welling up in his own eyes as well. Hanamaru immediately began to feel regret about what she had told him. "I... I'm sorry..." The two lovers then embraced, joining together in their sadness and rejection as they cried to each other.

Yousuke said to her through his tears, "I'm so sorry. I'm sorry..." The two were clearly devastated by the rather harsh attack by Yoshiko.

...

Several minutes later, as Yoshiko finished ranting to Ruby over the phone about what had transpired, Ruby sighed at her home downstairs, ensuring her parents would not hear her. "Yoshiko-chan, now that I've taken all that in, can I offer you some advice that I think you need to hear?" She was clearly annoyed by how Yoshiko had reacted to the news, based on her tired eyes and facial expression.

"Sure," Yoshiko replied, unaware of Ruby's mood. "I need it."

"You sure do," Ruby replied. "Because it's clear to me that you need to chill out. Sure, I get it, there's somewhat of an age difference there, but look, they're not harming anyone. You need to accept that your brother isn't a little kid anymore, and that he is going to have feelings for girls. You should be really damn glad it's a girl like Hanamaru-chan."

Yoshiko was stunned that Ruby had taken their side. "What?! What are you saying?! Are you not backing me up on this?!"

"No, I'm not," Ruby bluntly told her, refusing to beat around the bush any more. "You're on your fucking own. Your brother can make his own decisions, and to be rather honest, I did have some concerns when Hanamaru-chan told me, but their relationship is awesome, and I'm glad they chose each other." Ruby was adamant in her support for the young couple. "Yeah, that's another thing. I've known about this before you did."

Yoshiko paused for a good 15 seconds as she processed Ruby's rebuttal. Then, she sighed. "I'm going to fucking bed. Yousuke's probably not coming home tonight, and our parents know, too. I don't know for sure, but I assume they're not happy either. Good night." She then abruptly hung up.

Ruby closed up her phone and sighed. "For fuck's sake, Yoshiko-chan."


	15. Fallout

**_July 8, 2019_**

"Yoshiko-oneechan," Yousuke told her sister as they attempted to talk things out from the day before. "You're overreacting! Even mom thinks you are!"

Yoshiko was about to yell a response, but caught herself and took a deep breath in, not wanting to explode at her brother. "Yousuke-kun, I'm doing my best to remain calm, trust me. Look, you're too young to be doing this. You need to slow down. Hanamaru-chan was wrong to take advantage of you like this."

"I'm gonna stop you right there," Yousuke interrupted her, a rare occurrence for him to do so. "Onee-chan, I was not taken advantage of. I've had feelings for her since I met her two years ago. Hell, if anything, I held back on telling her or anyone because I knew back then I was too young for her. Now, though, I'm grown enough to make some of my own decisions, and I decided to tell her, and she reciprocated. I know you're concerned as my older sister. I would be, too. You have to understand, though, that you can't prevent us from seeing each other." As Yoshiko pauses to gather her thoughts, Yousuke added, "And another thing, me and my girlfriend will move however fast the two of us feel comfortable going. You don't get a say as to what we do when we're alone. I don't think you or Sakurachi-san would appreciate it if I began to comment on your own sexual activity."

"Please don't bring her into this," Yoshiko sternly warned her brother. "Don't do it." Yousuke could tell she was hurt by the comment, and respected her wishes.

"Right," he replied. "Anyway, the point is, you can't control what we do. Only we can. Also, another thing, Watanabe-san lost her virginity only a year after I did, if that. You never complained or showed concern about that when she told you guys."

"She...," Yoshiko began, but cut herself off. "Well, it... That was..." She began to realize that if she was angry at her brother for his activities, she was being a hypocrite in regards to You. "A year can make a lot of difference, okay?!"

Yousuke finally had enough. He stood up from his chair and calmly addressed her sister, intending to not give any further attention to her. "Stop making excuses, onee-chan. I love Hanamaru with all of my heart, and she will tell you the exact same thing. She means the world to me, as Riko does to you, and you need to accept that. Despite what she has thought of herself, there is no girl- No... There is no _woman_ more beautiful than her in my eyes. Even if you bar us from being together, we will gladly disregard you and keep close. I'm sorry, but if I have to disobey my older sister, I will. If you don't believe me, talk to her yourself." He then turned to the door of the apartment. "Hanamaru-chan, come in!"

Hanamaru then stepped into the apartment after letting herself in. As she walked towards the siblings, Yoshiko stared in shock. "You... You heard everything?!"

"I did," she replied as she stood by her boyfriend and held his hand. "He is absolutely right about everything he said. Yoshiko-chan, I haven't been this happy in such a long, long time, zura. Please, give us your blessing, and let us be together in peace. I don't want to lose you as a friend, Yoshiko-chan. You and Ruby-chan are my closest friends, zura." Tears began to stream down her face around this time. "I don't know what I would do if I lost you two, or if I lost Yousuke-kun. He may be a bit younger than me, but that doesn't matter, zura!" She then turned and gave him a kiss in front of Yoshiko, further stunning her. Once the rather long kiss was done, she turned back to her and finished with, "I love your brother, and nothing you can do will ever change that."

Yoshiko paused, thinking to herself after the two had given their final statements. As the seconds ticked by, she began to realize they were right, she could not stop them from seeing each other. Her own parents had given the approval for their relationship, as did Hanamaru's grandmother. "Damn it... I..." She herself then stood up from the table. "I need a moment to myself. I'm sorry." She then slowly walked to her room and closed the doe behind her.

"Yoshiko-oneechan?" Yousuke was concerned deeply about her sister now instead of being mad at her.

...

"Ambulance 151 to Numazu General Hospital Medical Control," a paid firefighter-paramedic radioed to the hospital as You and her cousin Tsuki took care of an unconscious diabetic patient at his house. Tsuki has been visiting You at the firehouse, and rode along with them when they got the call.

"Go ahead," a doctor replied.

As soon as they all recognized the doctor's voice, all of them groaned. Tsuki even verbally lambasted him with, "Not this fucker, come on!" This doctor was infamous for not often letting paramedics administer medicines in the field, preferring to let the hospital do all the work, due to his mistrust of them.

"This is Ambulance 151 of the Numazu City Fire Department," the paid firefighter replied to him. "I have a 60-year-old unconscious diabetic. He is on oxygen therapy with an NPA in. His vitals are as follows: A blood pressure of 150 over 100, a heart rate of 60, a breathing rate of 16, and a blood glucose of 16. We have him on a cardiac monitor and are transmitting the information to you as we speak. Do you wish for me to administer dextrose through an IV, as he cannot swallow at this time, and at what dosages?"

You commented as they waited for a response, "He better say yes."

"Negative," the doctor replied, earning a curse from Tsuki. "Begin rapid transport to the hospital so they can administer the proper medications."

"Are you fucking serious?!" Tsuki was angry at the doctor. "This patient is going to literally die if we don't given him something now!"

"Doctor," the paid firefighters replied over the radio. "I would highly advise you to change your mind. This patient is unstable and his vitals continue to get worse. I would highly recommend you give us permission to administer dextrose at 10%, up to 25 grams or 250 millimeters, through an IV." He made sure to exactly state what he was supposed to give in an attempt to change the doctor's mind.

Even so, the doctor was not having it. "Still negative. Begin transport now. Those are your orders." He was clearly becoming annoyed by his tone of voice over he radio.

"Please," the paid firefighters pleaded with the doctor by this point, desperation in his voice. "This patient cannot wait any longer, and I fear that if we do not administer any dextrose, he could die in the back of our ambul-"

Suddenly, a very pissed off Tsuki grabbed the radio from his hands, shocking him. She kept the radio keyed up as she sternly told the doctor, "To hell with orders." She then turned the radio off and set it down. "Fuck that guy. You know how to do it yourself, right? Now, let's do it."

Amazed at the tenacity she had, he blinked his eyes and replied to her, "Okay then... Yeah, let's do it." He then popped open the ALS kit and pulled out the necessary supplies to set up an IV. "Tsuki-kun, you can stick him. You're a paramedic student, after all."

"Don't mind if I do," she cheerfully replied, feeling energetic after telling the doctor off over the radio. "You-chan, be a good third man and get the stretcher set up. Me and your partner here will take care of the ALS stuff."

You, still in utter shock, replied, "Right... Right..." As she stood up to get the stretcher ready, she said to herself, "Holy shit, Tsuki..." She then thought to herself as she quickly unfolded the sheets of the stretcher and lowered it, _"I gotta feeling we're all gonna be in major trouble when this is over, but Tsuki-chan was right. Japan is far too limiting for its firefighters who are paramedics. If we were in any other first-world country, we wouldn't have had to call a doctor and get permission to do any of this, so why in Japan?"_

None of them knew it yet, but by Tsuki telling off the doctor, they had set into motion events that would change the fire service and EMS in Japan forever, and would shape their lives permanently.


	16. Testimony

_**July 9, 2019**_

At 6 P.M., You, Tsuki, and the paid firefighter they were with, a man named Akimitsu Tatsumi in his late 20s with 7 years as a volunteer and 4 years as a paid firefighter under his belt, walked into a board room at the NCFD headquarters downtown, all dressed in their formal uniforms. All three were in serious trouble for having violated their medical protocols and administering medications without on-line medical direction. However, Tsuki fully expected to get in trouble, and had prepared for this day. She had pages upon pages upon pages of materials, ready to defend herself and criticize the Japanese field of emergency medical services for its backwards thinking and lack of autonomy for paramedics.

As the three sat down, they were met by the chief of the fire department, the medical director of the fire department, the union local president for the paid firefighters union (Numazu City Professional Firefighter's Association), and the head of the Numazu City Volunteer Firemen's Association. All four had many years of experience, and all four generally came together for such disciplinary meetings. However, one extra face among them frightened You and Tsuki: You's father, Yasuhiro Watanabe. He looked concerned with the two of them.

As they sat down, You spoke first, asking, "Before we begin, I must ask, why is my father and Volunteer Firefighter Watanabe Tsuki's uncle here?"

Yasuhiro immediately replied to his daughter, "Because when I heard my daughter and my niece were being brought up on rather serious charges regarding medical malpractice, I had to get involved."

"Indeed," the chief of the fire department, a man named Yakumo Tomoe replied to them. He had been a volunteer for 10 years and then a paid firefighter for 25 years, and was 55 years old. He had been chief for 5 years. "Now, we have determined that the day prior, you three began performing Advanced Life Support functions without online medical control. Permanent Firefighter-Paramedic Yuuki Sora, is that correct?"

"Yes," Sora answered truthfully, fearing he was about to lose his job. "We did."

"We also received word that Volunteer Firefighter Watanabe Tsuki," he continued. "Who is a student in paramedic school, verbally told off Doctor Naegi Hifumi over the radio when he refused to give you permission to administer dextrose to a hypoglycemic patient through an IV before disconnecting the radio. Is this true?"

"Yes," Tsuki affirmed to them. "I did, and I don't regret it whatsoever."

Her response made the medical director of the fire department look up at her in shock. She, a nurse and a volunteer firefighter-paramedic named Taeko Honda, told Tsuki rather forcefully, "Volunteer Firefighter Watanabe, you understand that these protocols exist for a reason, right?! Paramedics cannot give medications marked for advanced life support out in the field unless a doctor approves them, and that is how it will always be."

"I know that we can't do it now," Tsuki replied to her. "However, you are wrong when you say that's how it will always be. In fact, Japan is overdue for some major overhauls to how EMS works here. We cannot rely on a doctor's orders to give most of our ALS medications when our counterparts elsewhere don't have to wait a second. We have a similar level of training to our American counterparts, yet we don't have the same scope as them because almost all the stuff they get to do on their own, we have to get permission from a doctor who is not on scene who may not see the exact same thing as us. The truth of the matter is is that patient would have died if we did not administer dextrose to him, and we are needlessly letting patient's die when we wait and are refused by doctors who think we shouldn't exist at all and we should return to the age of undertrained attendants who barely know how to give oxygen, let alone give someone drugs that can and do save lives. European paramedics, who are largely though not entirely separate from the fire service, are even further ahead of us. The Paris Fire Brigade and French SAMU are performing extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the field as we speak, not to mention Harris County ESD 48 Fire and EMS performing field whole blood transfusions, and we are literally stuck here arguing over whether or not a paramedic should be able to administer what is basically sugar water without needing to ask a doctor first. We are decades behind the curve in the great ball game of EMS." As the medical director rose to speak, Tsuki interrupted her with, "And yes, I know what ECMO is. We aren't as uneducated as you may think. ECMO is the process in which one provides proper perfusion of oxygen into the blood outside of the body when the heart and lungs are unable to due to a medical or trauma-related reason."

The entire board in front of them sat in silence for a good half a minute, stunned by Tsuki's passionate defense. You turned to her and said, "Tsuki-chan..."

"Listen," Tsuki continued. "I know what I did was wrong in accordance with the protocols. However, I will gladly forfeit my college degree, my dreams, and my medical licensure if it means just one life is saved because I could act on my own. I can find another career or degree to go into. If you're going to punish anyone here, punish me. Permanent Firefighter-Paramedic Yuuki doesn't deserve this. He only did this because of me. He has a family and young children. Kick me out of the fire department, not him. My cousin certainly doesn't deserve it, either. She was practically an observer, and only did as she was told by me and Yuuki-san. If you want, if I somehow keep my licensure after today, I will not pull this stunt again. However, I will let you all know that I will be making myself active in the fight to modernize EMS in Japan, and I have the backing of both of my partners here in that endeavour. You will see more of me, whether it's me testifying to the government or advocating for it elsewhere. I will not claim to speak on the behalf of my fire department, only on the behalf of myself, and I will not claim to represent the fire department. Regardless, somebody has to give the push. I know I don't have as many years on as others, but that does not disprove the fact that we are behind. If you are going to go after me, go after me for what I say or do, not for my age or years of experience."

After another bout of silence, the chief of the fire department spoke up. "Those words... They are certainly very powerful, Tsuki. I appreciate the fact that you are willing to take the fall for your partners and protect them whenever you can. I like that in my firefighters." He then let out a sigh. "Therefore, for the next week, you three are to return to normal duties. After a week, we shall meet again to discuss what will happen going forward. Of course, as you said, if you pull any stunts like that in that week, we won't be as merciful."

Tsuki then bowed for the fire chief. "Thank you, Chief." You and Sora did the same.

"You three are all dismissed," the chief then finished with. As they all exited the room and closed the door, he began to discuss with the other members of the board. "Well, that was interesting."

"I can't believe you just let them get away with it," the medical director told him, absolutely floored and angry. "You... You just basically condoned prehospital medicine without a doctor's guidance!"

"There's that inner nurse in you speaking again," the head of the NCVFA, a volunteer with 27 years on, replied to her.

The medical director then sighed. "Whatever... I need a freaking drink." She then stood up and also walked out of the room in a huff.

As soon as she was gone, Yasuhiro told the chief, "You realize Tsuki-chan's right, right?"

The chief sighed, realizing he agreed with her. "Yeah, she is. It's just... You saw what happened with Taeko-kun. The unions of the doctors and nurses aren't willing to let us expand. If Tsuki-kun is really able to take this to the government and advocate for a modernization of the scope of practice for us, then by all means, I support her efforts in a personal level. Given the info of the medical call, I probably would have done the same damn thing she and Sora-kun did, and she was right that that patient would be dead right now if not for her telling Doctor Naegi off." He then sighed in annoyance. "That fucker has been a thorn in my God damn side ever since I was a volunteer."

...

At 9 P.M., Chika was washing the dishes in the apartment she shared with You while she was with Hachirou in the spare bedroom. The two were somewhat loudly having sex, but Chika could not hear them over the sound of the kitchen sink. As she finished the last of the dishes in the sink, she saw her phone begin to vibrate and light up with a call. She picked it up and answered, "Hello?"

"Chika-chan," Riko answered on the other end of the line. "It's Riko. Can you come over to my place? I need to speak to you. It's about Yoshiko-chan."

Chika immediately could tell something was off, based on Riko's tone of voice. "I'll be right over. Riko-chan, stay put and don't go anywhere."

"Thank you," Riko replied to her, with Chika hearing her voice slightly choke up. "Thank you so much. I'll be waiting." Riko then hung up, leaving Chika even more confused and worried.

As she looked to the spare bedroom's hallway, she could still hear the couple going at it. "Eh, they won't be done for a while." She then grabbed her cellphone, wallet, and her fire pager before taking a pen and paper to write a note for You and Hachirou. As she left, she quietly closed the door behind her before running down to the stairs to the outside. She was determined to help Riko, no matter what it was. As she ran outside, she was immediately hit by a moderate rain, but she did not care.

Thankfully, Riko's house was only a block away, so it did not take her long to reach it. As she reached for the front door, she stopped in her tracks as it opened from the inside, with Riko looking surprised. "Huh? Chika-chan?"

"Riko?" Chika then walked into the house, closing the door behind her. "Riko-chan, what's wro-?"

Riko immediately interrupted her with a kiss on the lips, surprising Chika. After a few seconds of accepting it, she realized what had happened and pushed herself off. "Chika..."

"Riko-chan," Chika asked her in shock. "What... Why did you kiss me?! You have Yoshiko-chan to do that with!" She was scared to think about what would happen if Yoshiko found out.

"Chika, I'm sorry." Riko then approached her again. "I... Yoshiko-chan is such a sweet girl, but... I can't keep living like this. I just... I don't love her anymore." She covered her eyes with her hands as she began to cry. "I've tried for the past month to keep it going, but I can't anymore. We haven't even had sex in a month, and the last few times just felt emotionless. It's getting to difficult to keep it up any longer. Chika, my heart has changed to you. I love you, Takami Chika."

Chika paused for a few seconds to take it all in, taking a deep breath. Then, she spoke. "Riko-chan, you need to tell her. Let her down gently, please, and tell her the truth." She then paused again. "As for how you feel about me... Ever since that night you showed me how to make love to another woman, I've tried to always just say it was a one-time thing... But this... This isn't a one-time thing." She then caressed the redhead's tear-stained cheeks. "Riko, I love you. I've been trying to hide it for so long from everyone else, but I can't anymore. Even so, I can't bring myself to participate in cheating. I need you to break it off with Yoshiko-chan. It won't be easy, but it's necessary." She then drew Riko in for a kiss, which soon turned into French kissing.

After a minute together, the two were on the couch in the living room, gradually feeling each other up and moaning as they did. "Chika-chan... I haven't felt this in a long time. Are you sure you want to go this far?"

"I haven't done this with anyone besides myself in two years," Chika told her. "Every time I touched myself afterwards, all I could see was you, on that beach, laying beside me." She then drew her in for another kiss. Eventually, this kiss would turn into sex between the two best friends and now lovers, and as they went at it, the two realized just how much they cared for and loved each other. Even so, both still knew what had to be done, and dreaded it.


End file.
